By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Final exams wrapped up in early December at Barton Community College,
and the last official day of the fall semester was Dec. 8. From
the student’s perspective, the Great Bend campus shuts down, including the
cafeteria. For those students competing in winter athletics, like basketball,
they return to campus before the rest of the student population to begin
practices. Fall sports deal with a similar situation when athletes arrive to
school in the summer before classes start.
Barton Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs said coaches are tasked with figuring out
how to feed their players for two weeks while the cafeteria is closed.
"You're trying to figure out how to feed your kids 28 times," said Rolfs. "You can't go to McDonalds and feed college athletes 28 times. That's just not good for them dietary wise. You have the financial challenge, scheduling challenge and feeding them healthy challenge."
The cafeteria does open periodically for lunch during the summer while certain academic sessions are ongoing. Rolfs noted the college has studied leaving the cafeteria open during the breaks to feed the student athletes, but the cost does not make the effort worth it.
While each athletic program has budgeted funds, Rolfs said coaches lean heavily
on the community to help provide meals for their athletes.
"We have a number of churches, civic organizations and businesses that help feed the kids," said Rolfs. "We have a number of folks here on campus who assist and our Booster Club assists heavily.
The Cougar Booster Club Board annually provides a meal for all the student
athletes on campus after Christmas. Rolfs said there are college staff members
that also assist in cooking food for the players.
The cafeteria reopens on campus Jan. 7 and spring semester
classes begin Jan. 10.