Senior Circle and the Boat seem pretty empty at lunchtime this school year. This may be due to the fact that the Activities Center is packed wall-to-wall with students trying to get their lunch for the day.

Lunch starting at 10: 42 A.M. was something students had to get used to, and now students have to organize their lunchtime around how long they’re going to wait in line to actually get some food. If you get to the counter between 10: 42 to 10:45, you’ll be fine. Anytime after that and you’ll encounter a rush of hungry and hostile students that are ready to eat.

Pushing, shoving, and squeezing through a tightly packed group of people happens every single day in this area. If you aren’t very tall, watch out for elbows, because you just might be hit in the face unexpectedly by a flying arm reaching over to pass a drink to a friend. If you are claustrophobic, you may want to pass on eating lunch for the day altogether.

With a large number of the student body surrounding the Activities Center, it takes a while before you actually get food or drink in your hands. If you show up during “rush hour,” it may take ten to fifteen minutes to get what you want and at that point half of your lunch is gone! Many times, students get their food right before the bell rings, so when they get to class they are barely beginning to eat lunch. In some classes, they aren’t permitted to eat their food. Many seniors go off campus for lunch just to avoid the lines and the food that is served at school. Juli Baca says, “I’d rather go off campus because I don’t really care for the school food. Plus, I’m a senior, so I can leave.”

Waiting to actually get your food isn’t the only line you’re going to have to wait in at the infamous Activities Center. The microwaves may be what stand in your way from the luxury of actually sitting down and having a nice, relaxing lunch with your friends. This may be because you have to wait another ten minutes since there are two or more people in line in front of you trying to figure out how to work the darn things. Many times a hot pocket that typically takes two minutes to warm up takes five minutes, because the microwaves aren’t high-powered.

Selling the higher-quality Dion’s pizza, salads, and subs at the food carts where they sell Pizza Hut pizza and other small treats instead could solve the problem. It would reduce the line dramatically since a lot of kids go to get their preferred pizza, salads, bagels, and burritos in the Activities Center. If you don’t like the long lines, start going to the cafeteria and food carts and reduce the traffic. Otherwise, you might get trampled in the stampede.