by Kyle Nguyen, Staff Writer
From Burger King to Huntington Beach High School, Carmen Murphy has been working in the food service industry for over 20 years, but decided to settle down at Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) for the comfortable atmosphere and her love for the student body.
“I think the kids here are very polite, they are very studious and I love that! I guess there’s just a lot of kids…I like working in a busy school,” said Murphy.
Although Murphy does show her love for working with high school students, she did pursue a career in the culinary arts, having taken a course at Orange Coast College. However, due to the costs in following this career path, but more importantly, her passion for being with kids, she believes she made the right choice in being a lunch lady.
“Some people like to be very hands-on in their job and like interacting with others, and I’m definitely one of those people,” said Murphy.
Outside of her job, Murphy shares another one of her biggest passions – her love for baseball. After meeting her husband, she had become a big fanatic of the sport, and together they hope to visit all of the major baseball fields and stadiums across the state.
“I didn’t play much baseball when I was younger, but when I met [my husband], we just went crazy over the sport,” Murphy said.
Another one of the perks of working at FVHS is the immense feeling of gratitude she gets when she feeds the students. According to Murphy, feeding the student body is one of the favorite parts of her job and makes it all the more worthwhile.
“I feel like a mom when she feeds her kids. It feels good, it feels like ‘Ah, I did my job.’ There’s no better feeling than that,” said Murphy.
For those that wish to work in the food service industry or those that want to work in the cafeteria, Murphy says that it’s really a choice made on how you work as a person. Like she tells her own children, what you pursue as a career should be what you enjoy doing.
“Not everyone likes working in an office, sitting behind a computer. But then again, not everyone likes working so hands-on. I have a lot of student workers and aids and what I always ask them is whether or not they like what they do, and if not, they should stay in school and work on finding something that they do like to do,” said Murphy.
