Jennifer Bartsch’s Kindergarten class.

Kindergarteners from Ely Elementary and Little Flower Catholic School visited Rugby’s Subway restaurant at the end of May and left as aspiring sandwich artists.

Subway manager Leann Jundt told the Tribune four different classes visited on four different days. The students were from classes taught by Kristen Heilman, Jennifer Bartsch, and Shauna Wurgler from Ely Elementary. Kindergarteners and second graders from Little Flower Elementary taught by Jenna Heilman and Jenna Brandt also toured the restaurant.

The visits began with what Jundt called “Subway fun facts” about food and the restaurant business.

“Some of (the fun facts) are interesting to me, too,” Jundt noted with a laugh. “I just learned that there are more Starbucks than McDonalds this year.”

“And then,” Jundt continued, “they wash their hands and come in the back, and we set up, and they get to pick their bread, and then they put on their cheese, whatever meats they want, and then their sauces. We tell them the Subway way, but they’re here as kindergarteners.”

Kindergarten through second graders from Little Flower Catholic School.

“We let them do it their way,” Jundt said and laughed. “They make it however they want.”

“So, they get to make their sandwich, and they get to do it right there,” she added. “Then, they get chips or applesauce, and they get to sit down in here and enjoy the experience.”

Jundt said local kindergartners have been taking field trips to restaurants for several years to mark the end of their school terms, and they’ve taken trips to Subway for the last five years.

“They used to do (field trips to) Pizza Hut (before the restaurant closed),” Jundt said.

Although the children made their own pizza on those tours, Jundt said those visits “were long; they had to wait for the pizza to cook.”

Shauna Wurgler’s class.

Jundt said after Pizza Hut closed, a former high school classmate who teaches at Ely Elementary asked her about tours for the schoolchildren at Subway. The students have made Subway their year-end field trip destination for “five years now,” she noted.

Will the tradition continue?

“Absolutely,” Jundt said.

“Some people don’t even know we do this,” Jundt said. After she showed photos from past field trips to her director, she said he “was blown away. We are the only Subway who does this that he knows of.”

Jundt added, “the kids do very well and they’re very well behaved.”

A fourth group of students who toured Subway.

“And I ask them when they leave if they are going to work at Subway when they are old enough to work, and they all say yes, so I should bring contracts for them to sign!” Jundt said.