Lunch has been surprisingly controversial this year with the longest lines in our school’s history and the rule of no food deliveries being enforced. Many students are wondering about how to improve lunch. Rather than ask for an open campus, which has been done countless times before, I want to put a new idea onto the table. A half-open campus, with food trucks in the bus loop during lunchtime. There are going to be difficulties, no doubt, but I think it would be a way to make students, the school and local businesses happy.
With how our schedule is set up, having an open campus lunch would be impossible. Millard is able to do it because they have block scheduling, we do not. Not only that, but there are limited entrances to the school, cramped parking lots and not much variety for food nearby. These places would get extremely busy, and there would be no practical way to get students out of the building, finished with their food and back in time for their next class in thirty minutes. But if the students did not have to travel, the school could come up with an agreement with the food trucks, collecting a share of the profits in exchange for the influx of business caused by the high schoolers. In order to make it more manageable, perhaps only juniors and seniors could have the privilege and it could be taken away if a student misbehaves.
I think that this would be a great way to raise money for the school. It would still be on campus and all school rules would still apply. The lines might be long, but certainly not any longer than the beloved crispito day. There would be a variety of trucks to satisfy different tastes to keep lines down. Maybe there would be a new lineup every week or two weeks so that students are not getting tired of the same food.
An open campus lunch is impractical and unrealistic, while closed campus leads to long lines and general dissatisfaction. With the half-open campus we could raise money for the school, support local businesses and make students happier than getting it from school or a lunch from home. It would be a privilege that could be taken away, and only available to upperclassmen so that the food trucks are not overwhelmed. Rather than having students go to the food, we could have the food come to the students.