Name: Stephanie Koga
Age: 48
Position: Maemae Elementary cafeteria manager
Education: Honolulu Community College
Pastimes: Spending time with family

"If today we're doing broccoli, teachers will discuss it in the classroom and give a short quiz before they come into the cafeteria," said Stephanie Koga, the school's cafeteria manager.

The lessons are part of the Learn from Lunch Program, which Koga helped create to teach children about nutrition.

She said she wants them "to be more aware of what they should be eating, what is good for them and how much they should be eating."

Koga will sometimes cook up local favorites, said Avis Nakamoto, vice principal.

"She used Jesse Sapolu's chicken hekka recipe and served it as a regular school lunch in April together with a display of the '49ers football team, which caught the attention of some of our students," Nakamoto said.

Once, the cafeteria was turned into a pasta factory for a school event Koga called Pasta-bilities. Chefs and pasta vendors were invited.

"Kindergartners did the art. The first grade did the math," Koga said. "Each grade level had taken a curriculum with pasta."

Koga, who has been at Maemae for 13 years, takes her measuring cups and ingredients into classrooms. "I let them feel it, touch it and see how we use the finished products," Koga said.