Storm Lake High School students mentor elementary children at lunch

In the middle of lunch at Storm Lake Elementary, junior Tim Yanga sat with third graders Collins Sullivan, June Jorgensen and Devina Morris while Carson Taylor worked the room in the background, making new friends. The small scene captured a larger shift in Storm Lake schools: high school students with time in their schedules are spending part of the day in the elementary lunchroom, giving younger children extra attention and a steadier adult-free model to follow.

Principal Barb Lange said the arrangement has had an immediate effect. “It's made a big difference for our elementary students,” Lange said. The help goes beyond keeping the lunch line moving. It gives younger students a calmer midday setting and puts older students in a visible leadership role at a time of day when supervision and social behavior can be hardest to manage.

That matters in a building serving roughly 1,000 students, many of whom speak nearly 25 different languages at home. Storm Lake Elementary is part of a district that has long had to balance growth, language access and family connection. The Storm Lake Community School District launched its first dual-language English-Spanish program in 2021, enrolling 45 kindergartners, and was described that same year as the most diverse district in Iowa. For a school community that complex, a lunchroom mentor program offers a low-cost way to strengthen belonging without adding a formal program or a major new expense.

The district’s size has only added to the need. Storm Lake Community School District reported 2,659 students for the 2024-25 school year, up 77 from the year before and 43% higher than in 2000. In that kind of environment, the everyday relationships matter. A high school student who knows how to help a first grader open a milk carton, settle a dispute or simply keep company during lunch can change the tone of a day that might otherwise feel crowded or anonymous.

The effort also fits Storm Lake Elementary’s broader push toward family and community engagement. The school has already moved away from traditional concerts in favor of events built around participation and connection, and its fifth grade student ambassadors have been described as living the school’s mantra of being ready, safe and kind. The lunch mentors extend that same idea across age groups, linking Storm Lake High School and Storm Lake Elementary in a simple routine that is already drawing notice for the difference it is making.