You just got out of your third period class, and you are on your way to get into the lunch line. You are slugging down the hallway and a light is flickering in the halls. You get to the first floor and finally get in line. Leaning against the wall, you smell the warmth from the kitchen. The scent of the tomatoes, the dough, and the mixture of cheeses fills you with a joy; It’s stuffed crust pizza day. However, you are at the end of the line and are not sure if you will have enough time to eat. 

Students going into the school year of 2018-19 at Selinsgrove Area High School were dreading the new changes they were going to have to face on a daily schedule; the lunch period change. Although the students disagree with the changes, administration has different opinions. Prior to this year, Selinsgrove High School was known for a long lunch period. Students were given an hour for lunch, while having the first floor free to them. However, this year administration had many different changes for benefitting the students. 

Previous years at Selinsgrove, the high schoolers were given a whole hour of lunch time but that has now been cut in half. Before, lunch was split up into two halves in which the first half was to get academic help and the second half was to eat and be with friends. During academic overtime, if a student had below a 70%, they would go into a room for the first half to catch up on missed work, or to get help from a teacher. Students who were passing all their courses would have the whole lunch to themselves, whether it was finishing their homework or hanging out with their friends. Along with the length, students could eat anywhere on the first floor, except for the auditorium and the arts hallway. Students at Selinsgrove loved this lunch period because it gave them an hour of “freedom,” time to do their work, and it allowed them to be with their friends. 

These high schoolers now had to adapt to different changes. Now the lunch period is split up into three separate times and each only being a half of an hour long. The thirty minutes these students experience for their lunch also includes the time they must wait in line to be served. Along with the time reduction, students are only allowed to eat in the cafeteria, and only a handful of students can leave at a time. To make up for the shortened length, the high schoolers now have a separate thirty minutes after lunch to get help from teachers and to do work.    

Administration at Selinsgrove felt that they needed to make changes to benefit the students. When Brian Parise, principal at Selinsgrove High School, was asked why they changed the lunch he said, “In order of importance: for security, academics, and clubs. God forbid something could happen during that time, and I would have no idea where everyone would be. Now with this new system, I know mostly where everyone is because we have certain courses eating at different times.”  Having certain classes go to lunch at different times lets Parise know what kids are where in the school. Meanwhile, with the old lunch schedule, students could be anywhere on the first floor. 

Also, with the old lunch schedule students who were not in academic overtime could decide to hang out with their friends instead of improving their grades and doing their work for the extra half hour they had. Parise stated, “The discipline issues are less, less kids failing, and more clubs are progressing throughout our school” since the new changes in 2018. 

However, not everyone is in favor for the new changes. Lexy Hunselman, Senior at Selinsgrove said, “I think that we should go back to the old way because it gives students more time to do what they need to do, and people are not rushed to eat.” Students feel as if their freedom has been taken away by the administration. Since the new lunches are split up into three separate times, many students could be separated from their friends. When asked as if she liked anything about the new lunch, Hunselman stated, “Nothing, because our lunch used to be fun but now you can’t even sit with all of your friends.”  

Not only are these changes upsetting the students, it can affect their overall health status as well. People who do not have enough time to eat do not get enough nutrients in their bodies for the day. Washinton.edu says, “Nutrition status directly affects academic achievement, conduct, and overall school performance. Students who are undernourished tend to become sick more often and miss school. This puts students behind in class and they are more likely to repeat a grade.” Studies show that shortened lunch periods can result in less nutrition to the students, as well as wasting food. Without having enough time to eat, students do not eat all their food and throw out what they do not consume in time.  

Nevertheless, Parise believes him, and his staff have done well with making sure that students have enough time to eat. They have timed how long it takes on average for the high schoolers to go through the line, and they make sure that the students still have enough time to eat. When asked how they determine who has lunch when, he stated, “It is all based on the courses you have. We had to determine which classes were the best to split up in half, to have the middle lunch. Since math classes mostly take a break in between a lesson and class work, that works the best. However, if you have art, you cannot just stop halfway through the class to go eat. You’d have clay or paint drying while you eat. Or with the science labs, we couldn’t just split it up.” Parise and his staff have worked to make sure that this system works efficiently for the students at Selinsgrove.  

Overall, the changes for the new lunch period have resulted in mixed emotions. Although the students do not like the changes, administration believes that they are doing what is right for the students. The students feel as if it separates them from their friends, and that the length is too short. On the other hand, the administration believes that they are putting the students in the best position for success.  Parise stated, “I think they hate it because it is less freedom, but I also think that it makes sense. In a couple of years, nobody will even remember about the old lunch. Some will even think that we were crazy for letting the students run around the school for an hour... I don’t think it's perfect, but I think it will continue and show progress within the next years.”