By Sara Solimani, staff writer
After getting used to lengthy lunch periods during quarantine, newly entering freshmen and sophomores are slowly adapting to the different approach of River Hill’s lunches.
At River Hill, there are 4 different lunch shifts A, B, C, and D lunch for the corresponding start time (A lunch is earliest, D lunch is the latest). Lunches are based off of the 2-hour long 4th period class and last for 30 minutes. Therefore, in a student’s 4th period, there is 90 minutes of instructional time and 30 minutes of lunch.
Freshman Rahul Goyal, who is currently running for class president, has A lunch on both A and B days. He states, “Even though I would prefer to have a different lunch period since not many of my friends are in A lunch and I’m not always hungry at that early of a time, it’s nice to have a break before starting the longest class of the day.”
Beyond having a part to play in breaking up the day, lunch shifts also have a role in students’ attention spans
Lauren Shin, a sophomore, expresses how her lunch period affects her class. She says that “In C lunch, I’m super hungry and then when I go back to class, the last 30 minutes nobody really focuses on what we’re doing.”
There are clear pros and cons to each lunch shift and it leads one to wonder, which shift would students prefer?
When asked this question, sophomore Sarah Chin responded that she would prefer, “A [lunch] on both days because then if I had a quiz in 4th period I could study for lunch before it.” Sophie Siwajoula, a sophomore who has B and D lunch, says she prefers “B lunch because I eat lunch at a regular time throughout the day so I’m not too hungry before and I’m satisfied for the rest of the [school] day.”
Everyone has different reasons for the lunch that they desire. Many students agree that they want to be able to have a say when it comes to the management of the lunch periods.
“I want lunch to be longer. I think the time is just enough to eat but not exactly enough to socialize with others and relieve stress.” says Lauren Shin. Adding on to this, Sophie Siwajoula says, “I wish we could pick which lunch period we have… we should be able to have a choice.”