Lunch for 200 people? These Colorado charter school students do it every day. [Video]

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Brayden, Sabrina, and Rachel scraped the charred skins off poblano peppers, squished out the seeds, and dropped the slippery pepper flesh into a stainless steel bowl.

“Guys! Why are we leaving so many seeds in there?” 16-year-old Sabrina said, half laughing, half exasperated.

“Oh my God, they just keep appearing,” said Brayden, also 16. “I clean it off and eight more show up.”

It was almost 9 a.m. on a Tuesday, and the three worked with classmates to make posole in their first class of the day at STEAD School, a charter school in Commerce City northeast of Denver. In just over two hours, the fragrant Mexican soup of hominy, chicken, peppers, and tomatillos would be the star of their high school’s lunch line. Grapes, orange wedges, and a salad bar were …