What time is it? It’s time for lunch. What time is it? It’s time for lunch. It’s lunchtime. Hey, what’s for lunch?
At 11:37 a.m., lunch officially begins at Middle College High School (MCHS). Students try to grab lunch before all of the good food items disappear, so what do we all do? We rush to the lunch line right when class is dismissed!
As we approach the Express West, we expect a nice, clean and straight line for easy and fast access to the delicious items on the table. However, we’re met with groups forming big blobs in the lunch line, creating chaos and frustration among MCHS students.
Senior Ivy Nguyen expressed the messiness of our current lunch lines.
“I wouldn’t even consider our lunch lines a line. It’s just a bunch of students piled up in front, shoving their way through to get food,” Nguyen said.
Many students try to get lunch as quickly as possible, even if that means cutting in front of others or disrupting the line.
There is no guidance for the lunch line and no one to monitor it, which adds to the disorder that comes from the groups of students. How should students and staff be considering ways to improve the lunch line?
There are many solutions we can come up with to grab lunch faster without having to push or cut through the line.
Nguyen shared her thoughts on improving the line..
“I think having someone there to enforce the rules would help, but they would have to be consistent with it. Other schools have two lunch lines, but our school is a bit smaller, so we can’t do that,” Nguyen said.
Furthermore, Principal Scott Werner offered solutions as to how he can contribute to a cleaner, faster line.
“Most of the time, I visit the lunch line at least once a day. I can work with Mario and Frausto to keep an eye on the line,” Werner said.
Staff monitoring the line could ensure that the lunch line actually functions as as a line instead of a blob. This will help students get lunch more efficiently, so they can enjoy the rest of their lunch.
Besides the line, MCHS’ former principal, Damon Voight and our current principal, Werner, have been working with Santa Ana College to open up the kiosk in the Express West. After much debate, they finally gained access.
Opening the kiosk in the Express West has tremendously helped our lunch staff with better storage and a faster checkout. Mario now has space to store extra food and beverages near the Express West, which means faster restocks and shorter wait times.
“The kiosk is going to help Mario just with the food production and moving of the food because prior to the kiosk, his refrigerators and everything was stored in my back storage area. Now, he’ll work more efficiently, and we have the cold food coming straight from the refrigerator out to the line,” Werner said.
This new addition means staff can restock the food items faster than before with better quality. Students can quickly grab food as it’s restocked to cut down wait time for those who are still in the line.
Lunch staff Mario Nieto gives his thoughts on the improvement of opening the kiosk at the Express West.
“Me ayuda porque no tengo que estar echando viajes a la oficina y si se me acaba la leche o el jugo, pues aquí está la mano,” Nieto said.
English: “It helps me because I don’t have to make trips to the office, and if I run out of milk or juice, everything is right here.”
The kiosk has made his transportation of beverages and food items smoother as well as allows him to restock swiftly.
Additionally, having one lunch staff to check out all of the students getting lunch can be slow, but Mario does his best to ensure all students are able to grab lunch within the time limit.
“Trato de hacerlo lo más rápido, usando dos líneas, y si me atoro la computadora, para no atoro la línea, uso el clicker. Yo sé que tienen 30 minutos de “lonche” y trato de que lo agarren lo más rápido para que disfruten otros 20 minutos,” Nieto said.
English: “I try to do things faster, using two lines, and if my computer gets stuck, to not stop the line, I use a clicker. I know you have 30 minutes for lunch, and I try to make sure you get it quickly so you can enjoy the other 20 minutes.”
Hopefully with these improvements and solutions, the lunch line can become more efficient. One where students aren’t frustrated by the line cutters and shape of our lunch line.
