Last week, I was in the lunch line and my friend turned to me and said she was starving. So was I. We both agreed that lunch was way too late, and we wished we could eat earlier in the day.
It is undeniable that Greenhill Upper School students eat lunch at a late time. Doors to the Crossman Dining Hall open for us at 1:10 p.m. Considering how long the lunch line is and the sloth-like pace it moves at, many people do not get their lunch and sit down until around 1:20 or 1:30 p.m.
It is always a race to the lunch line. If your C or G Block teachers let you out at exactly 1:10 p.m., you are doomed. By the time I actually sit down with my food, my stomach is practically yelling at me because I haven’t eaten since 7:00 a.m.
Yes, our classes do not start until 8:30 a.m. so I theoretically would not have to eat breakfast first thing in the morning, but some people have to be at school early for sports or to meet with their teachers. Others live an hour away from Greenhill and wake up at the crack of dawn.
It is true that we have fruit carts, but the fruit sometimes goes bad and there is not much variety. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for what is provided, but considering the often unhealthy eating patterns of teenagers (including myself), our schedule sometimes seems like a scheme to get more people to buy food from the Buzz. I am always spending money on chips, bars and other snacks because I get so hungry at random times in the day.
My proposal is this: instead of going to our C and G Block classes after Advisory, Office Hours or whatever may be going on from 11:20 to 11:45 a.m., we should start lunch. Noon is an appropriate time to eat, it is not too early nor too late.
After lunch, we would go to our other two classes and end the day with Hornet Block. This way, students who have early dismissal for games will miss less school. Additionally, ending the day with clubs or affinity groups might be better for students as they will leave campus on a positive note, not after a devastating math test.
Some athletes may be apprehensive about an earlier lunch, arguing that it will not tide them over for practice. However, a late Hornet Block would give them time to eat a snack before practice. Furthermore, they would get to eat sooner rather than later on days when they have a hard, early-morning workout in the High Performance Center.
On the other hand, our status as a K-12 school means that there are over a thousand hungry mouths to feed, so moving our lunchtime would be a logistical nightmare. Moreover, the prospect of a change in schedule may not be popular among the student body.
Ultimately, this is a great problem to have, and we should all be grateful as a student body that this is even on a list of things to worry about.
