Fluvanna County students and staff are pushing for more lunch time. Since a recent wave of changes, many students and staff at the school have been complaining about short lunches. According to the CDC, school nutrition research shows that adolescents need at least 20 minutes of seat time to be able to get the nutrients they need in a meal. This seat time is heavily impacted by the long lines students have to wait in; in order to get their food.
To allow for students to receive proper nutrition and enjoyable social time, they ask for longer lunches. When the schedule for FCHS lunches, they only thought about a set time for each student to consume food, but never took into consideration the time long lunch lines impose on the consumption time. “Having a longer lunch gives students more time to get and eat food; but also allows them an opportunity to relax and decompress from their first two classes,” said FCHS staff member Holly Brown. Although FCHS administration does not have the power to just change the whole schedule, they can definitely push the issue and display why students should be granted more time for lunches, so they can have a healthy amount of seat time to eat.
These short lunches are not only affecting students’ nutrients, but also affecting their access to free lunches. When students received free lunches this year, it was an attempt to get students more compelled to get lunches, also introduced were the new snacks and drinks able for purchase. While having these free lunches and new snacks more students have bought the new snacks and drinks, not as many have not bought lunches. Without students getting lunches, students’ free lunches might be getting taken away if they cannot get more sales. “It benefits all students to have free lunches, it makes it even across the board for students. To continue to have these free lunches we need more student participation during lunch and even breakfast.” said FCHS cafeteria staff member Sheri Casero.
Alongside staff members, students also want longer lunches, “I want longer lunches, mostly because I don’t have enough time to eat and relax after my first two classes.” said junior Samantha Kilmeyer. Having longer lunches could improve students’ moods, and sociability; thus increasing students productivity and work output.
“I really don’t have that much time to eat my lunch, by the time I get to the cafeteria and get my lunch I barely have any time to eat.” said junior Hayden Marchant. Increasing students’ lunch times will not only improve students’ performance but will also improve all students’ moods, and will make students more willing to get lunches; thus making the free lunches more possible in the future.
Students participation in getting the free lunches and breakfast correlate directly with the issue of getting longer lunches. For the students who wish to have more time for lunch, we must first start by getting the lunches they provide. If more students get lunch, there will be a call for more time for students to eat, which is cut into while waiting in long lunch lines. Students need to have enough time to relax, socialize, and of course, eat. The lunch schedules right now do not provide the students with the proper amount of time to do all these things. This is why students’ participation in getting lunches will help with the push for longer lunches.
