According to the School Nutrition Association, “Nearly 100,000 schools/institutions serve school lunches to 29.6 million students on a daily.”

Compared to the number of students who get lunch in the nation, the Smoky community may feel like a smaller number, but to many students in the building, it can feel like an even bigger number.

Like sophomore Nia Pollard, “The lunch line is usually past the vending machines.” 

With longer lunch lines, comes less time to eat. Depending on when you get to the lunch line, it can determine the time of how long you get to eat.

Freshman Kiele Saranillio feels like she has less time to eat lunch.

“I only have 5 minutes to eat lunch usually,” Saranillio said. 

Other students like Pollard feel differently with a greater time advantage.

“Usually I have 10 minutes to eat lunch,” Pollard said.

The administration has also noticed this. Lunch Supervisor, John Thompson, has noticed how long the lunch lines have gotten. Thompson has made an extra effort to switch the lunch lines.

“I think part of that was just to kind of control the flow of the lunch lines,” Thompson said, “Now, you can make a sweep through and get most things then you’re out of line.”

The difference in time to eat lunch is usually the cause of when a student gets to the lunch line, but depending on if students already have friends in line, it may cut the time they have to end up waiting in the lunch line by half. Although cutting could be good for those doing it, it can also negatively affect those behind in the line.

Pollard feels strongly about this, “Yes, I see people cutting in front of me at lunch.” This seems to be a frequent occurrence that Pollard has dealt with.

The lunch lines at Smoky have always had issues with length, but it seems to always be a problem at the beginning of the year. Throughout the year, it slowly starts to work itself out and become more organized. This might be the new normal with the added amount of the freshman class that makes up the biggest grade level in the school.