“Lunch is a time that we all want to enjoy”

[Cont. from pg. 6]

Sophomore Emilia De La Torre says her experience with the study center varies. “There are some times we will all be caught up on work, but other times we separate and work with different teachers,” she shares.

De La Torre explains that while access to a resource like the Academic Study Center is very helpful, it also serves as a way to eat lunch with her friends if they don’t have the same assigned cafeteria as her. Since the center allows for a sort of social break during the day, the rules of the Academic Study Center become foggy and inconsistent, opening the door for a potential change in official policy.

Another issue that most students and staff agree on is that the courtyards should be reopened to eat in. “Having the courtyards open for lunch last year was really nice. I liked eating there. It was fun,” junior Jeremiah Lobin Schwartz says.

The outdoor lunch options were clearly well- liked among students and staff, but ever since coming back for the 2023 school year, the Safety Officer staffing shortage has made it impossible to regulate the courtyards.

Although it is the coldest time of the year, the option to sit outside during semi-warm days or at the beginning of the school year would be an option for students to get a breath of fresh air in the hours that they are stuck at school. Even though, on the days that weather permits, there are circles of students scattered around the grassy areas of the courtyards, a table and chairs are appreciated and contribute to a much more enjoyable lunch.

Being the largest school under one roof in the nation, lunch is a struggle to control. ETHS students’ lunch habits are formed around ever-changing necessary but sometimes inconsistent policies.

Lobin Schwartz concludes, “Lunch is a time that we all want to enjoy, so it is important that the school can provide that for us.”