This year at Liberty, the administrators have decided to change up how we eat lunch. Remember having 4 lunch shifts that lasted for about 20 minutes each, causing you not to have enough time to eat or be with friends? Well now we have this new system called One Lunch! This is just a test run and hopefully by the time they need to make this decision permanent, it becomes our new lunch system.

 For the 2019-20 school year, the administrators thought it would be a great idea to retire the four 20 minute lunch shifts and replace them with a new system called One Lunch. 

To get you up to speed, One Lunch is placed after 3rd block from 12-1, eliminating our Eagle Block and giving us a full and uninterrupted 3rd block, allowing students to eat whenever and wherever they would like to with friends. 

Our old four 20 minute lunch shifts didn’t allow students the time to visit with teachers or be with friends they don’t normally see, let alone have plenty of time to get through the lunch line, find a place to sit, and eat their meal. 

Getting through the lunch line with plenty of time to eat was everyone’s main concern because students could be standing in line for a minimum of 5 minutes to 15 minutes at max. 

Now, with our new schedule, the lunch line is easier to get through because students don’t have to stand in a huge crowd, having things you want blocked. 

One Lunch gives Liberty Students ample opportunities to visit with teachers, see friends, and to do any of your schoolwork and homework that might be due in the near future.

Honestly, One Lunch is a good idea to try just to see if what administration envisioned will work out. It helps promote socialization amongst everyone, making it to where you have an opportunity to meet and make new friends. 

It’s also a good way to help people that normally find it hard to make friends, to help them find people they can hang out with and relate to daily. 

Students are able to eat with whomever they’d like. In our old system, they were limited on the friends they were able to eat with and talk to. 

This lunch schedule also allows participants to overcome anxiety, if they have it, when it comes to big crowds or a lot of people. 

When teens hear that they can go almost anywhere and do almost anything for a whole hour, they begin to think of everything they could do or even go. I think that giving the students more independence and freedom to go about how they please is a great plan because not only does it teach them about independence and freedom, but it also helps them make their own decisions on what’s best for them specifically. 

Students are now able to go see teachers and get extra help on homework or assignments they either have not finished or need to make up. They can see any teacher in the building as long as they have office hours for that day, meaning if a student just wants to chill in their favorite teachers classroom and they have office hours, they finally can. 

Before LHS came up with the One Lunch system the only time students could visit their teachers was before school, after school, or during Eagle Block. The problem with Eagle Block was students were only permitted to go to teachers they had currently, unless they received special permission from another teacher.

Now, with this new system in place it allows students to see whatever teacher they please, as long as they have office hours for that day and students have the ability to join and have club meetings on a normal basis for a longer period of time.

Every good thing eventually encounters issues. When students are going places throughout lunchtime, it seems the more they walk, the muggier and hotter it gets, almost like the A/C gets cut off a few minutes after everyone has left class to start their hour of freedom.

Yes, having the ability to move around and not be crowded into one area has its benefits, but when everyone starts gathering into other areas of the school, in large numbers, that’s when everyone’s body heat starts contributing to the rise in temperature around that area. 

Having people crowded into one area also may be a disaster waiting to happen. When you get so many students into one large group, they start making not-so-smart decisions that lead to them having to pay the price afterward. It can cause toxic situations and environments that most students don’t wish to be in if students do not use their best judgement at all times.

Altogether, the concept of One Lunch is a good initiative to start here at Liberty. Yes, it may be flawed at times, but what isn’t flawed? We’ll just have to wait and see how this new school year goes with this new system put into place. 

One Lunch has been getting better each day in my opinion and I’m hoping they keep this system because it gives us the freedom, time to de-stress, and independence we all have been looking for. 

Let’s give this new idea a chance to keep improving so we can all enjoy a much needed 60 minute break each day!