At Pinewood, lunchtime is the undeniable highlight of our day — until you’re faced with the ultimate test of patience: the lunch line. The time for us to relax and refuel quickly turns into a Hunger Games, with the lunch line as the arena. Whether I’m faced with frequent line cutting, or a stampede of junior high students, I loathe the experience of standing in line for 20 minutes under the blazing hot sun, simply to retrieve my $8 lunch.

   Head of Upper Campus Eve Kulbieda often stands at the front of the lunch line, greeting students as they pick up their meals. 

   “I usually stay at the lunch line until there’s only one line left, or until there’s usually only about 10 folks left in the line, which typically takes 15 to 20 minutes,” Kulbieda said.

   Those 20 minutes are 20 minutes too long, especially considering the short amount of time we have before our next class. Lunch is only 50 minutes long, and 20 of them are spent waiting in line, leaving only 30 minutes to eat, go to clubs, do homework, study, or meet with teachers. No one has time for a 20-minute lunch line. 

   Although many students like myself believe that the lunch line at Pinewood is way too long, Kulbieda states that Pinewood’s is relatively quick.

   “In all the schools I’ve worked in, lunch lines are always a hot topic, but I would say [Pinewood’s] is actually fairly efficient to what I’ve seen in the past,” Kulbieda said. 

   Kulbieda especially emphasizes the utility of Pinewood’s fast-line system. She claims that busy lunch days tend to be club days, or days with popular meals. 

   On a Wednesday, after waiting in the lunch line for 20 minutes, I arrived at the front to receive my chicken nuggets and potatoes, only to be met with the disappointment of nuggets and a pile of chips. The Epicurean had run out of food.

   I personally believe that the 7th and 8th graders cause much of my troubles. Not only do they seem to dominate the line, but they often cut and create chaos. Many may say this seems like an exaggeration, but we’ve all seen how they stampede to the lunch line after assemblies. 

   “It’s easy to see when folks are cutting, but there is actually a lot of it,” Kulbieda said. 

   I have always stood by the fact that life would be much simpler if junior high did not have lunch during the same period as high schoolers. However, Kulbieda has said that doing so would require two separate high school and middle school schedules, which would create too many problems. 

   But defeat is not upon us. Pinewood Associate Student Body and Students for Sustainable Change have acknowledged student’s complaints of the lunch line, and it is on their radar. 

   Considering that Pinewood students’ average lunch time period is 50 minutes, the lunch line needs change. No student wants to spend up to nearly half of their lunch time standing and waiting in line. Lunch is supposed to be the highlight of the day, not an endurance test.