A longer lunch at Ridgeline has been a topic students have been talking about since the beginning. I sat down with a senior to discuss why an hour-long lunch is a necessity to better our academic performance. As a senior, Madison Bowen is well versed in all things high school and trying to get back to school on time. 

Madison, like most juniors and seniors, leaves school grounds to go to a restaurant for lunch. However, it’s a daily struggle to try to get back to school before that tardy bell rings just 30 minutes after being released to go to lunch. Madison herself has twelve tardies in her 4th hour, which follows lunch. She says, “I’m getting really tired of my mom constantly yelling at me for my tardies but there’s nothing I can do.” She also exclaimed that if she doesn’t eat, she can’t focus and perform her best through the rest of the day. 

Many people, like our parents, ask why we don’t just eat at school. However, most of these people haven’t eaten a school lunch in many many years. Oftentimes, the school lunch is served cold, which just makes the already unenjoyable meal even worse. Also, the portions of school lunch are about the same as is served to the elementary school students, leaving the high school students still hungry when they head back to class. 

All of these issues could be resolved if Ridgeline allowed their students an hour-long lunch break. There would be a large decrease in tardiness, the students would be well fed and ready to continue learning, and more students would leave the school during lunch, giving more revenue to the small businesses in the valley.