Lunch isn’t just about the food: it’s about friends, connection, and everyone’s favorite Sage employee: Ms. Nicki.

Ms. Renequial Walker, best known as Ms. Nicki, makes the lunch experience better for students. When she first started in 2008, she worked the line during Middle and Upper School lunches. This is her first year working with Lower School and Happy Haps.

She cares for the kid’s feelings and loves them; she wants them to feel included and cared for during lunch and snack time. Ms. Nicki’s favorite part of working at Hockaday is the kids. “I mean, I love the kids,” she emphasizes.

Each day she stocks bananas, oranges, apples, and pears in to Lower School for snack time. She also takes around 50 chocolate milks, 25 two percent milks, three cases of water, and other snacks for the week. After she returns to the kitchen, she prepares to bring the lunch to the Rotunda.

“I start serving lunch around 11:30 and normally it’s Kinder-Primer and another class that comes and then PreK comes after that,” she explains.

Ms. Nicki cares for the girls and includes them even if they have allergies or food aversions. She wants everyone to feel included. Since some girls have allergies, Ms. Nicki wants to ensure those girls do not feel left out.

“They are already getting special food and by them being so small, I want them to feel like that they’re still getting the best of everything,” she said. “(For example) When they normally have chicken strips or chicken nuggets, I try to get the gluten free girls the gluten free chicken.”

Sophomore Olivia Pearson described Ms. Nicki as “motherly loving and caring.” She first met Ms. Nicki in PreK.

“She would always call me Ladybug and ask how my day was and I loved it,” Pearson said. “Something that many people do not know about Ms. Nicki is that she loves getting fun nails. During every season, you’ll see her with a Christmas set of nails and she likes to get sparkly nails.”

Pearson said Ms. Nicki has remained a positive influence throughout school and is always ready with advice.  Her favorite advice from Ms. Nicki: “Don’t let other people dim your light.