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All highschool students are familiar with the rush of excitement once the final class finishes before lunch. The beloved break in the middle of the school day is often the thing students look forward to the most and the RCDS community is no exception. What once was a fast line to food has now become a 5 minute wait for the students that arrive on time to the cafeteria. Since the amazing FLIK workers are not to blame, the question evoked is: What is the cause for the substantial increase in wait times on the lunch lines and the overcrowding in the lunchroom and are there any solutions to these issues? 

As expected by much of the teaching staff at RCDS, there has been a significant increase of cafeteria wait times when compared to past years.  What was once a short wait during the years of Covid has become a nightmare to most of the students at RCDS. Whether it is the struggle of eating quickly before a Z Block class, scrambling to meet a teacher, or an extra couple of minutes to study for an exam, RCDS students are always in a rush to be somewhere. Many students attempt to get to the lunch room early to grab a quick bite and be on their way, but now the struggle of finding a table and getting food in a normal amount of time has led to the feeling of being cramped and the disputes between students about who sits where.  

A solution made by many students includes hurrying to lunch to secure a table by putting their belongings on top of it. This method, unfortunately, has a varied chance of working as there are many instances when people simply ignore their peer’s belongings. This leads the RCDS student body to wonder if there will be an action made by the school to remedy this dilemma. Taeko Fueno ‘25 explains, “I’m not criticizing people for wanting to rush to lunch, because I can’t blame them for being hungry after long hours of mental exercise. The overly crowded lunch rooms are annoying and make lunch less enjoyable.” Students have suggested adding tents outside to eat food or maybe even expanding the building itself to the nearby grass field.Overall, shortages of space in the lunchroom make it more difficult for the student body to enjoy their lunch without feeling squished between each other. 

Humans aren’t strangers to lines when grabbing food, whether it is at school or not. RCDS, being the small prep school that it is, doesn’t have the biggest cafeteria. As a result, the lines to get food are always out of the cafeteria doors and into the dining hall. Although there have been attempts by teachers to have delayed lunch times, they are ultimately fruitless. Our beloved FLIK workers aren’t to blame for these lines, but more so, the cafeteria itself. Lack of space makes everyone’s wait times endless. The lines in the lunchroom are the root of many problems in the cafeteria and hopefully in the years to come, the RCDS community will come up with a permanent and effective solution. 

This article was written by Colette Sawyer. Click here for the full answer key.