Dish crew, a former staple at Northwood, is no more. Returning students were shocked to learn that they no longer had to labor in the dish room. The news of this change was greeted with joy by the student body. Sophomore Olivia Paul said, “I’m happy that I don’t have to do it,” and senior John Hepworth smiled and added, “Dish crew was trash last year.”
Students are happy to see only this view of the dish room this year. (Photo: Owen Pierce ’21)
Dish crew has existed in our school for more than 50 years. According to Northwood graduate Michael Treska ’64, “dish crew was around long before I arrived at Northwood.” Alumni who return to Northwood often comment on their time working in the dish room. The end of this tradition, which was unpopular among students, may raise eyebrows in the alumni community, even if it is greeted with unamimous praise among current students.
Assistant Head of School Mr. Tom Broderick said the main reason for the change was to make it fairer for students who had to do dish crew more frequently than other students. Broderick explained that “When the major sports teams went away, it left the same forty kids doing the dish crew” and that last year’s stomach bug and influenza outbreaks have raised concerns about the contamination of food.
English teacher and former student Don Mellor ’71 had another criticism of the old dish crew. “The way it was structured, dish crew taught students the wrong idea about work,” said Mellor. They learned that they could just skip whenever they wanted to.”
With the discontinuation of dish crew has come a new snack bar, which provides students with opportunities to get fresh food during most of the day. Proceeds from snack bar sales will cover the cost of the dish washers. Although the end of dish crew and the addition of the snack bar are in a trial phase, most students approve and hope they become permanent at Northwood.
