Due to the colder weather forcing students inside for lunch, East Campus students shifted to a three lunch format last Tuesday. Students will now be able to congregate comfortably in the cafeteria instead of the commons and the auditorium. 

“With two lunches, especially the second lunch, we didn’t have enough seats for everybody with the weather being cold,” freshman principal David Holloway said. “We did have [to] set up tables and chairs in the auditorium as well. So we had the kids in the auditorium, kids in the commons, kids in the cafeteria.”

The three different locations for students to eat prevented thorough adult supervision and was ultimately the final string that led to the lunch change. 

“On a good day, there’s four of us (supervisors), and most days, there is three,” Holloway said. “So having everybody in the cafeteria with three of us makes it a lot easier with supervision, probably a little more safer for everybody.”

The change does have its cons. The three lunch periods allow only a two-minute lunch hour passing period which can make it quite the hassle to get from lunch to class on time. The addition of a third lunch poses a separate challenge for teachers and students in 2nd lunch, who will have to interrupt their class to go to lunch, and then come back to class after lunch to continue the lesson.

“When you come back from lunch … and then go to the class it’s really hard to get focused,” freshman Sam Spiegel said. 

English teacher Seth Alexander also observed the effects of a third lunch on his classes.

“I definitely understand why they’re doing it,” Alexander said. “It can kind of be a little hectic and tough to organize students … I think it is for the best, but it’s gonna take some time to adjust for sure, but we’ll see what happens.”

Despite the cons, the three-lunch format has fulfilled its goal of giving everyone an opportunity to sit in the cafeteria and helped improve supervision at the same time. Not to mention it has provided much shorter lunch lines for school meals, allowing students more time to eat and socialize. 

“I just think with being able to sit everybody in the cafeteria and the supervision far outweighs sticking with what we had,” Holloway said.