It is 4:30 a.m. The sun is yet to rise, but Debbie Herrera is out of bed eager to go to work. Herrera is not a counselor. She is not a coach or a teacher. She is the smiling lady behind the meals served to an MVHS student in the cafeteria. She is the cafeteria cook and head.

Cooking is in Herrera’s blood. Her father was a chef, her sister is a grocery shop manager and her brother is a caterer. Originally, Herrera chose a different path to pursue: fresh out of San Jose High School, she was offered a job at IBM as an engineer. She did not hesitate to accept the offer as the pay was exceptionally high for a women without a college education. However, a few years later, another company bought IBM, so the manager offered to aid Herrera with tuitions if she decided to attend a culinary school. She applied for a job at MVHS and of 15 applicants, Herrera was chosen to be a cook, and eventually rose up to be the manager of food services at MVHS.

Outside of MVHS, Herrera places family as a priority. She volunteers with her daughter at EMQ, a program that helps youth with mental health impairments and family issues. As part of the program, she plays sports with the attendees and teaches them how to cook because she wants to help. These children often come from backgrounds with domestic abuse or disabilities.

In general, Herrera loves MVHS students. She sees a good portion of them everyday as they walk through the cafeteria and buy their food. Every day, she always has students knocking on the cafeteria after cafeteria hours and she lets each of them in as she understands that most of them just want to eat. According to Herrera, she never lets anyone go away hungry, trying to get them what they’d most like to eat. As a staff member, she receives a lot of respect from MVHS students.

Herrera feels a deep connection to many of the students and notices everyone as they stroll into the cafeteria to get their food. Herrera simply talks to kids to let them know that she is there.

“Not every kid gets recognized,” Herrera said. “I acknowledge them.”

However, not many students around campus know about her. Sophomore Marcus Plutowski barely knows anyone inside the kitchen, only talking to the staff members in charge of the cashiers.

Though Herrera sincerely appreciates feedback on cafeteria food, Plutowski, who buys cafeteria food everyday and realizes that many of these demands cannot be met as a result of the school district’s strict regulations on food.

Herrera recalls the times that the bell has rung and the cafeteria doors have been shut. One last student who was stuck in class talking to a teacher or making up a test rushes into the cafeteria to buy his lunch. He knocks on the glass window, and to his luck Herrera is on the other side. He thanks Herrera repeatedly as he grabs food to eat. As the boy walks away, relieved that he got lunch, Herrera smiles knowing she completed her job.