Lunch time is students’ first break. Often, it’s their only break from classes the entire day. The time of day that students eat lunch can affect how students and teachers think, eat and focus.
At Loy Norrix, students are placed into one of three lunches: A lunch, B lunch, or C lunch. All of these lunches have their pros and cons.
A-lunch is at 9:56 a.m. and directly after the second hour. This lunchtime is commonly seen as too early, and can make students’ days feel longer because they will have four full hours to be in school after they have had their lunch break.
“A-lunch is way too early, and I’m not hungry, so I don’t eat and then I can’t focus the rest of the day because I haven’t eaten,” senior Lilyanna Hostiguin said.
Early lunch prevents Hostiguin from focusing on her school work, because she’s instead focused on being hungry.
According to Lunch Time Crunch: How Does This Impact Students? by Independent School Management (ISM), early lunch isn’t ideal because students won’t be hungry, which not only results in students not getting the proper nutrition, but also increases the amount of food waste. Over ten thousand tons of food were wasted last year just from Michigan schools alone. Decreasing the amount of food waste from Norrix would be great, and later lunch could reduce that amount.
B-lunch is in the middle of third hour. Students go to class for 35 minutes, have lunch, and then go back to class for the final 35 minutes.
“I like B-lunch because I feel like when I go back [to class], I’m more studious, because I just ate,” Hostiguin said.
Hostiguin thinks that getting a break in the middle of class might seem like an annoyance or disturbance, like with B-lunch, but getting a long brain break where you relax and recharge after a stressful three hours can be seen as a good thing.
Other students, however, go to lunch almost four hours after the school day has begun. C-lunch is directly after third hour and is the latest and final lunch of the school day.
High school students who wake up early are getting hungry before lunch. Some teachers keep food and snacks in their classrooms to ease students’ hunger before lunchtime.
“C-lunch is great because we don’t have an interruption in learning,” history teacher Samantha Devries said, “but I do feed my class every Friday because they’re just very hungry.”
To freshman Caleb Gonzalez, C-lunch seems like the perfect time to eat, but his day feels longer with soccer practice.
“Lunch is very important because it energizes you for the rest of the day and gives you motivation to focus in class,” Gonzalez said.
Nutrition is very beneficial, especially for students who wake up early. Some might get home at 5, 6 or 7 p.m. If students are busy with sports and other things, they are more at risk of being affected by not eating.
According to a Harvard Health Study, good nutrition and getting the proper vitamins help your brain, muscles, and everything else function correctly.
Lunch is essential to people’s schedules, and the time of day affects how students and teachers focus and perform the rest of the day. Most staff and students have learned to be flexible and manage through all the benefits and problems.
