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UWRT

November 4,2Ot4

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On Wednesday, October 29th, I went to a localfavorite dining hall on campus, Crown. I headed

there at a prime time of traffic, noon. By going at a dense time I was able to record a healthy amount of
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information. I sat at a table that had a good bird's eye view of the room and observed for an hour'
first, I observed the ethnicities of people and their sex. I also noticed their gender and how they

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communicated with each other. There were also groups of people who shared the same ethnicity
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pull ,/'

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race. Generally people who were foreign spoke their native language to one another. People

together' The
chairs from other tables and sit together and talk. Many people were working on work
groups had their backpacks and laptops out presumably working on homework for an upcoming class'
away'
However, there were quite a few people who were sitting alone with their laptops up typing

lt

was interesting to see a multitude of social groups in the immediate vicinity..

proximity
My next observation consisted of the workers behind the grill or bar. Due to my close
of where I was sitting to the main course grill.l had a good view of the actions of the workers. A lot of
these workers used hand gestures with one another to get a point across. lnstead of speaking, they

would point out what to make or where to go. Usually the older looking mer,nbers would do use hand
gestures to the younger workers who were buried away in the kitchen. The rare instance that words

were exchanged was when workers asked the orders of the students. A simple and swift "what would
you tike today?" and response were the extent of conversation between students and staff. However,
the words spoken to others employees when making the food caught my attention

as

well. They would

use a condensed version of what was ordered. I assume that the condensed phrases were

to keep

simplicity and cut down on time as the workers hurried away at making the order. The language
between workers was informal and friendly at best.

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/ o(, Un' The next aspect of my observation was the diet of students in the dining hall. Since

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observing the grill and the workers there, I noticed what foods were being ordered. I then looked

around the room and saw the foods that were on students' plates. I noticed there was a lack of
"healthy'' food on their plates. Food such as patty melts, burgers, fries, pizza, and other greasy items
dominated the plates of students. The salad bar had a few people customizing their own saladrbut the
lines of the grill would extend to the entrance of Crown. Looking around, very few people had salads on

their plates. Most of the people who were getting salads were generally women. Thus, I came to the
conclusion that if a young audience were given the option between fatty foods and healthy foods, a

majority of them will pick the unhealthy food.

Andrew Karam

Connie Douglas

UWRT

November 4,2OL4

On Wednesday, October 29th, a localfavorite dining hall on the University of North Carolina at

Charlotte (UNCC), Crown, was observed. The observations were made at a prime time of traffic, noon.
Going at a dense time allowed recording a healthy amount of information. The observation was made at
a table

that had a good bird's eye view of the room and lasted for an hour. At first, the ethnicities of

people and their sex were observed. Also, their gender and how they communicated with each other
was noticed. There were also groups of people who shared the same ethnicity or race. Generally people
t"'rOtuki1l

/ who were foreign lpoke their native language to one another. People would pull chairs from other

==:::
tables and sit together and talk. Many people were working on work together. The groups had their
backpacks and laptops out presumably working on homework for an upcoming class. However, there

were quite a few people who were sitting alone with their laptops up typing away. lt was interesting to
see a multitude of social groups in the immediate vicinity.

The next observation consisted of the workers behind the grill or bar. Due to the close proximity
of where the observer was sitting to the rnain course grill, a good view of the actions of the workers

could be recorded. A lot of these workers used hand gestures with one another to get a point across.
lnstead of speaking, they would point out what to make or where to go. Usually the older looking
members would do use hand gestures to the younger workers who were buried away in the kitchen. The

rare instance that words were exchanged was when workers asked the orders of the students. A simple
and swift "what would you like today?" and response were the extent of conversation between students

and staff. However, the words spoken to others employees when making the food caught my attention
as well. They would use a condensed version of what was ordered. An assumption was made

that the

condensed phrases were to keep simplicity and cut down on time as the workers hurried away at
making the order. The tanguage between workers was informal and friendly at best.

The next aspect of the time spent on the observation was the diet of students in the dining hall.
Since the grill and the workers there were being watched, the types of foods being observed became the

next aspect of the observation. A quick look around the room revealed the foods that were on students'

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platesf I $roticed there was a lack of "healthy'' food on their plates. Food such as patty melts, burgers,

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fries, pizza, and other greasy items dominated the plates of students. The salad bar had a few people
customizing their own salad but the lines of the grillwould extend to the entrance of Crown. Looking

around, very few people had salads on their plates. Most of the people who were getting salads were
generally women. Thus, a conclusion was made that if a young audience were given the option between

fatty foods and healthy foods, a majority of them will pick the unhealthy food.
The observations that took place allowed a conclusion to be made that teens generally eat

unhealthy. Although efforts were made to sway students to healthier options, students continued to eat

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from the greasy grill. Obesity in America is an issue that should not be overlooked with over 50% of men
are overweight and 50% of females are overweight (Carmen). Students often pick unhealthy choices due

to the accessibility of fatty foods. Students do not have a parent or guardian to dictate their diet;
therefore, students will have freedom to make their own choices on what to eat.

Cafeterias will often serve more unhealthy foods due to the popularity. Schools have made an

effort to put a heavy emphasis on eating healthy. For example, posters of eating green were plastered
everywhere inside of the living centers. Since the dormitories house the bulk of students attending
college, the posters would gain more recognition. However, these efforts are considered to be a failure

by many of the school's program (Powerl. Recent studies have shown that teens that do not eat healthV
,

yield poor performance in class, anxiety, trouble sleeping, and diabetes. Therefore, a healthy diet

can

contribute to a healthier lifestyle and better performance in the academic side of college life (Eratsis)

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Power, Thomas G., et al. "Obesity Prevention ln Early Adolescencq Student Parent, And Teacher

Mews.' lournol

Schoot Heofthffi.L(2010):

ill-19. Acodemic

Seorch Comptete. Web. 11 Nov.

2014.

P6rez Rodrigo, Caffiren. "Current Mapping Of Obesity." Nutricion Hospitaloria2S.(20131:21-

3L. Acodemic Search Complete.Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Bratsis, Michael E. 'Fight Obesity ln The Classroom."

Seorch Complete.Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

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