By Danny Bower
Waffles, juice, and all the cereal you can eat — these are just a few of the reasons that kids participating in BYU summer camps enjoy eating at Helaman Hall’s Cannon Center Cafeteria.
“This is one of the best things about the camp,” said basketball camp participant Jacob Hafen, 11, from Winnemuca, Nev. “I eat cereal for every meal, I can’t do that at home — my mom won’t let me.”
Fellow camper Sterling Carlson, 10, from Denver, Colo. said that he likes eating in the cafeteria because he can choose what he wants to eat.
“There is a lot to choose from and if I don’t want to eat anything from the lines I just go and make myself a waffle. I like making my own waffles,” Carlson said.
According to camp counselor Matt Williams, 22, from Price Utah, the kids have access to the waffle machines and the cereal dispensers for every meal, in addition to three major entrees, a salad bar, and dessert bar.
“That’s all the younger kids eat, cereal and waffles, you would think that they would get sick of the stuff, but they don’t,” Williams said.
The older kids do have a better appreciation for the finer aspects of the Cannon Center.
Sterling’s older brother Chase Carlson, 16, said that he likes the variety.
“I like the themes that they have — they even decorate the place,” Chase Carlson said. “That and all the different kinds of Minute Maid juices they have are my favorite things about the place.”
What the kids do agree on is that the Cannon Center allows them to spend time with their friends and talk about their camp experiences.
“I don’t see my brother much during the day so the meals are cool because we can talk about our games and contests,” Chase Carlson said.
Hafen says that meals allow him to spend time with his new friends.
“It’s cool to hang out with my new teammates at lunch and dinner; we just walk over after our games,” Hafen said. “I have three new best friends and we eat together everyday.”
