Our school day can be long and stressful, filled with lengthy tests and quizzes, a lot of homework and more. The one thing we can count on and look forward to everyday is lunch. When you ask most students what their favorite time of day is, they’ll most likely say lunch, but now, it’s short, only giving us a little break between our school days. 

Lunch should at least be the same amount of time as classes. Rushed lunch periods have many negative impacts on the well being of students. First off, students who buy lunch from the school spend most of their time waiting in line to get food, and only end up having about 15-20 minutes left to eat. A lot of food is left on their tray which isn’t good for the students’ diet, especially lower-income students that depend on school lunches as their main meal of the day. Research suggests that as students eat more food and healthier food during break times, it increases memory, impulse control and anything else that helps make a student more successful. 

Many students already have commitments to  activities that take place during lunch such as club meetings, test/quiz retakes and printing homework last minute in the library. By the time they finish doing whatever they need to do, the lunch period is almost over. There have been numerous circumstances where I went into a classroom for test retakes, or waited in line for food, and by the time I finish, the bell rings signaling me to go to 3rd period. Then for the rest of the day, I’m hungry, drained and unable to be motivated to pay attention or learn anything new. Sonali Ratnasinghe faces a similar dilemma, being the leader of a couple clubs, she is required to go to all the meetings during both gatortime and lunch. She even mentioned to me that she hasn’t sat and eaten lunch with her friends in over 2 weeks! Many other students are facing a similar dilemma and we need to find a solution to this. 

I asked Catherine Goodall, a sophomore at Green Level, about this subject and she weighed in with her opinion, saying that “I think we should have longer lunch because next year, having a short lunch will cause people to rush to get to places that are further away when we go off-campus. When waiting in lines, there won’t be enough time to drive there and back and eat in time. Accidents can even be caused from trying to eat and drive or speeding. It could also lead to an abundance of tardies in 3rd period due to the far distances and lack of needed time.” Goodall has a point, lunch will seem even shorter next year if we are to go off campus and back in only 45 minutes. 

We need movement and a break between our school days to keep us functioning. There’s a petition going around to increase lunch time, so CLICK HERE if you’d like sign it.