Students at Saint Ignatius College Prep are mixed on how the school’s lunch slides may be too short.  With lunches only being 29 minutes comes a major debate of whether students are given adequate time to eat.

Clementine McElveen ‘25 says that she spends 10-15 minutes waiting in line to get her food, forcing her to throw out what she can’t finish by the end of the period. Other students, such as Jose Rios ‘25, state that the school gives “adequate time for the needs of students.”

These divisions stem from how individuals get their food. Students who pack lunch can skip the long lines and allocate more time for eating. “Basically, you have the full time to eat,” said  Alex Wright, a senior who packs his lunch. On the other hand, those who buy lunch are often burdened with 10 or more minutes of waiting.

Even though many students who buy lunch at school argue that they spend more time waiting than eating, this is not always the case. “For me, I get around 20 minutes to eat,” says  freshman Ryan Saines. Is this enough for him to eat? He says, “Yeah, but for most of the freshmen at Damen Hall, no.”

Mr. Lombard, a Total Wellness teacher, says that he finds 30 minutes “more than enough time to eat lunch.” He adds, “I do see the issue with waiting in a line for the cafeteria, but I do not see a need to extend lunch times.” He also says that the planning aspect differs from those of other institutions: “Smaller schools can set up lunch all at once and have extended time. But with the population and size of the school, we have to work in lunch slides to accommodate everyone. It all depends on the amount of available space, number of kids, and the amount of cafeteria stations.”

EDWeek, a news organization that covers K-12 education, says that students eat a larger portion of fruits and vegetables which take longer to eat. This inhibits students from focusing on the other parts of their food, leading to nutritional imbalances. EDWeek also says that allocating students a longer lunch period can lead to decreased rates of youth obesity. They recommend schools give children a minimum 20 minutes to eat the food itself.

In light of this, some students propose that the school change the way they manage the lunch slides. Students have suggested changing  lunches to be 50 minutes or taking away five minutes of homeroom to add a passing period.