Centennial Junior High has made many changes to their school system because of the world changing virus, Covid-19. The lunch system might have been the hardest to change. On warm days they have everyone eat outside. This is nice because there is lots of space for everyone to spread out. Another benefit of going outside is that the students get fresh air. This system works unless there is bad weather, and in Wyoming, there’s a lot of bad weather. When it gets colder or the wind is really bad they have students eat inside. The school has split every grade into two cores. This way there are not so many students without a face mask on in the same room.While one core eats the other core waits in the multi-purpose room. On every lunch table there are dividers. The dividers make it so that only four students can sit at a lunch table that is originally designed for eight. 

The lunch time is split so students are told that they get 15 minutes to eat their lunch. This may seem like a long time to eat your lunch, but 43.6% of students said that they don’t have time to finish their lunch. While eating, students are often reminded that they need to hurry and eat like they are in a race to finish. For a few days we had tables in the hall against the lockers. If we use the tables in the hall and put tables in the multi-purpose room, and use the lunch room students could have a full lunch time to eat. Another solution is to eat inside our classrooms. Students have also had the idea to take away two minutes from every class so that we can add on those minutes to lunch.

 Everyday they have an announcement disrupting class about what the lunch schedule will be that day. Students think that we should have flags inside telling them what the lunch schedule will be for the day. We do this already in the morning. We have a red flag outside of the school telling the students that we will stay inside until school starts or they will have a green flag outside telling us to go inside. We could have the red flag for when we eat outside and when we eat inside and we could have different colors telling us what cores are eating first and if the other core will be waiting outside or in the multi-purpose room. Being proactive could help lunch go smoother.

Most students saying that they don’t always have time to finish their lunch could cause other problems for the students.  It’s hard to concentrate when one is hungry and it certainly makes for a long, hard day at school. Lunch is supposed to be a great part of the day, so ready, set…EAT!