By: Molly Albertson
As students first enter high school, one of the many new experiences is the ability to leave campus during the 35-minute lunch period. This gives students increased options, from walking to Harvest, going home, or driving to get food. Many leave every single day to get food off-campus, often spending upwards of five dollars a day to do so. With this comes a school environment that focuses on going to fun places for lunch. However, not every student enjoys buying lunch off-campus.
While school lunch is completely free, many students do not take advantage of it, with only 18.8% of students getting school lunch, while 43.8% of students opt to buy lunch off-campus, according to a poll conducted by the Pony Express.
“[I go to Harvest] because cafeteria food is really bad, and because it’s something to do,” sophomore Izzy Gray said. “I would rather walk around than just sit on campus, and it’s good to get out for a half hour when you’re in class for so long.”
Students often choose to spend the majority of their money on getting lunch during the school week, rather than saving money for other things.
“[I spend] 13-17 dollars [on average per day],” senior August Janiak said. “I spend the majority of my money on food for school, so during the weekends it’s more difficult to spend money on things I want to do with friends because of the money I’ve already spent that week.”
While going out to eat lunch would be some people’s first choice, the expense of it forces them to bring their own lunch or eat school lunch. Junior Nathan Criswell eats school lunch every day; however he used to eat out daily during his freshman and sophomore years.
“Harvest is too expensive to go to every single day,” Criswell said. “I get out of budget whenever I eat out every day, and school lunch is free.”
Students, including Criswell, believe that the disparity between people leaving for lunch and staying could be due to the quality of school lunches. While he still eats school lunches, he thinks that the school could make them more appealing to students.
“I think school lunches should make the portions bigger, or allow you to take a little more,” Criswell said. “I just stopped grabbing the chicken strips at one point because they were veiny, it was disgusting. I would just throw them away anyway.”
Some students also believe that the culture of leaving campus for lunch does not allow people to socialize with other students as much.
“I feel like it makes the school more clique-y, because you’re going out to lunch with a specific group of people, rather than if everyone is on campus, being able to socialize together,” freshman Sawyer Zappelli said.
