Debbie Trujillo

Ask the high schoolers at Bernalillo Public Schools to name their favorite cafeteria meal and they will not say pizza or chicken nuggets. They will say red chili pozole. That answer is due to the work of Debbie Trujillo, who grew up in Bernalillo, New Mexico, graduated from its schools, and has spent the better part of 39 years making sure the students who walk those same hallways are fed, cared for, and celebrated. After a brief stint as a state nutritionist and a pandemic-era tribal food program role, she came back the moment Bernalillo called. “I couldn’t see my district, the place I have so much passion for and love so much, being in turmoil,” she says. “So, I came back.” 

As Student Nutrition Services Director for Bernalillo Public Schools, Debbie oversees nine schools and approximately 2,500 students across a wide stretch of New Mexico’s high desert, where the nearest school can be a 45-minute drive from the next. She returned to the role six years ago, and in that time has built one of the most community-rooted foodservice programs in the state. 

Scratch cooking is the foundation of everything Bernalillo serves, covering roughly 90% of the menu. At the high school, a dedicated pizza line turns out an ever-rotating lineup of made-from-scratch pies (pepperoni, veggie, mushroom, green chili, Philly steak) baked in a conveyor oven Debbie secured through a nearly two-million-dollar grant. Last year, students ranked their two favorite meals at a school lunch hero day: red chili pozole and fettuccine alfredo. “You would think high school kids would want pizza or chicken nuggets,” Debbie laughs, “but they wanted our pozole.” The hominy and chili come straight from New Mexico farmers, keeping the menu rooted in the land and traditions surrounding the district.

For breakfast, staff make everything from scratch where they can, including burritos, sandwiches, tacos, muffins, and scones, even in a breakfast-in-the-classroom model used at every grade level except high school. General Mills Foodservice cereals and individually wrapped products fill in the gaps, giving students in the classroom a choice alongside the hot items. Biscuit dough from General Mills Foodservice anchors the morning lineup, and the team layers in croissants, tortillas, and English muffins made fresh each day. At the elementary level, students keep coming back for chicken and homemade mashed potatoes, scratch tomato soup paired with grilled cheese, and warm rolls right out of the oven. At the high school, pueblo tacos (a fried-bread-style item made in the air fryer), and red and green chili lines celebrate the New Mexican food traditions many students grew up eating at home.

If there is one thing Debbie loves as much as scratch cooking, it is throwing a party. “Fun in the Park,” her summer program, partners with the town’s recreation department, fire department, police, library, and local museums to bring bicycles, sporting equipment, and food-truck meals to kids all summer. In the fall, the district’s harvest festival draws three to five thousand people for frito pies, a car show, haunted house, literacy games, parent taste-tests, and vendors from local farms, pueblos, and artisan communities; in the spring, a 5K and health focus take over.