A video crew visited Glenville-Emmons High School Tuesday to get the first part of a video on the Extreme Cafeteria Makeover that will be shown at conferences across the country.

Glenville-Emmons High School was selected early this year from 19 schools to receive a revamped cafeteria through the Minnesota School Nutrition Association and Owatonna-based Learning ZoneXpress

The goal of the project is to show school districts the possibilities of a revamped cafeteria that also links education and the lunch room, said project manager Sarah Carroll.

Videographers Ben and Mandy Spinler of Sevenrendered Design interviewed many of the people involved with the project to learn about how the project came about, and what some of the goals of the project are.

“They’re hoping to film the before, the broken down tables, the brown floor, the serving line that backs up so the kids have to wait five to ten minutes,” Carroll said.

One goal for the day was to film lunch being served to show what the current cafeteria looks like. Carroll compared the video to an episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” because it will show before and after footage, but she said the video will not include video of the construction process.

The Spinlers also interviewed people like Learning ZoneXpress founder and CEO Melanie Nelson, Glenville-Emmons Superintendent Mark Roubinek, Food Services Manager Diane Minear, President of MSNA Jean Ronnei, and a few students.

The first portion of the video will be presented at the Annual National Conference of the School Nutrition Association in Las Vegas from June 29 through July 2 to generate interest and enthusiasm for the project. Londa Arnfelt, who works in sales for Learning ZoneXpress, said the video will also work as a how-to and will show other schools how they can improve their cafeteria.

Like many other cafeterias, the Glenville-Emmons cafeteria has been largely unchanged since the 1950s, and Ronnei said this program will raise awareness in other schools.

“In MSNA, our role is advocacy for our members, and Glenville-Emmons kitchen and cafeteria is pretty typical — not really being modern, not having the financial resources to get the supplies. … We really hope to inspire other school districts to make changes in their cafeteria, and to get the support that they need to make that happen,” Ronnei said.

The MSNA Annual State Conference will be held in Duluth on Aug. 2-5, and Carroll said the video may also be shown there.

The video will be completed in the fall after the cafeteria is completed, and the video will then be shown at other national food service meetings in the fall and winter, like the Child Nutrition Industry Conference in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. on Jan. 10-12, 2010.

All of the work will be done during the summer, and the new cafeteria will be ready in the fall. The brown flooring will be replaced with brighter colored flooring, and the tables will be replaced with tan color tables with black stools and edging, Roubinek said. There will also be a new serving line that will include several hot wells for different foods and areas for salads.

Roubinek said that the school and community accounted for $20,000 of the project, the Extreme Cafeteria Makeover groups accounted for $50,000 and Glenville area contractors are donating much of the labor.

“I don’t think our district would be able to do this without the support of them. Because probably, when you add all the consultation, and the serving line, and some of those other things together … we’re putting in probably about $20,000 and we’re getting back $70,000 worth of materials.”

Learning ZoneXpress produces visuals with messages of eating healthy. A main visual includes posters, which will replace the old posters in the lunch room. The posters are colorful and are pictures of food arranged to look like historical figures like Albert Einstein, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Others include sheep made out of cauliflower with a black grape for a head and black eyed peas for eyes.

“To be able to give back is just really exciting, and to give kids what they deserve, which is a great place to relax. They’re in school, they’re studying. This is break. This is their respite,” Ronnei said.

Learning ZoneXpress is producing the video, but all the groups involved the makeover have worked to fund the video. Other groups involved include Duke Manufacturing, which is funding the serving line; inTEAM Associates, which is hosting a two-day consultation on a critical function like food safety or staff training; Brandaids, which will provide staff uniforms embroidered with the school logo; and Cambro will provide new lunch trays and other serving products.