5th Grade Teacher Eats Lunch with His Students in the Cafeteria Every Day — and His Reason Goes Viral (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Dan Shutes, an educator from Paw Paw, Michigan, has a lunchtime routine that stands out: he brings chicken and rice every day. And he eats it in the cafeteria, alongside his students.

Almost every afternoon, Shutes joins his 5th grade class — along with the rest of his school’s 5th graders — in the lunchroom. The 32-year-old, who has been teaching for almost 11 years, started the tradition a few years ago.

“I didn’t expect a bunch of kids to say, ‘Hey, can you eat lunch with me tomorrow?’ or ‘Can you eat lunch with me the next day?’ But that’s how it’s been,” Shutes tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I eat lunch in the cafeteria definitely three to four times a week. It’s something I enjoy, and it’s become part of my routine, especially at the beginning of the year.”

“It’s a priority for me. I think it’s an easy way to get to know your students beyond just names and test scores from the previous year,” he continues.

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Teacher Dan Shutes.Dan Shutes

Dan Shutes

During lunch, Shutes’ class is split into three different tables. Each day, he makes his way from table to table, and occasionally he’ll venture over to his teaching partner’s class to eat with them.

“Sometimes, students from other classes that I don’t actually teach will ask if they can sit with me, and I try to find time to do that too," he continues. “Whether they’re siblings of former students or I’ve just seen them in passing and gotten to know them over time, it’s nice to connect with kids who aren’t in my classes but who I see every morning as they walk down the hallway.”

Teacher Dan Shutes.

“So if I were to distill this into one central message, it would be this: teachers, educators and coaches shouldn’t underestimate the impact of the little things — the small deeds we do for our students,” he adds. “They often appreciate these gestures far more than we realize.”

Although Shutes has many fond memories from eating in the cafeteria, one stands out the most. Last year, during the first or second week of school, he was walking between lunch tables carrying his chicken and rice when his flimsy paper plate collapsed.

“It fell all over the top of one of my brand-new students. We had been in school for maybe a week, and I was mortified,” he says. “I thought, ‘Oh no, I just dumped my lunch all over this poor girl!’ But she took it like a champ and was a good sport about it. Of course, everyone around us was laughing, and while I was extremely embarrassed, we ended up laughing it off. It became something we joked about for the rest of the school year.”

source: people.com