As the bell echoes in every third period class, I rush out to earn my spot early in the lunch line. I speed walk all the way from the D building to the main cafeteria, only to realize that the unorganized swarm of students stretches almost all the way to the Titan Center. Where does the line even start? There’s no possible way I can get something to eat, find an open table, and enjoy my lunch with my friends. 

But what am I supposed to do, starve? After waiting in line for what seems like an eternity, I receive my pepperoni pizza slice on a paper plate with an apple and a fruit cup. I hurry to find my friends at our usual table, only to find that it’s been replaced with a smaller stand up table almost as tall as me. And it’s taken.

This is the unfortunate reality many Titans face every day. Some bring food from home, and a handful obtain off-campus passes to buy lunch elsewhere. Many rely on the recent statewide decision to provide free meals to children under 18. And of the many whose third period is far from either of the cafeterias, it’s game over. 

Lately, every table is taken seconds after the bell rings and every bench is occupied. This may be attributed to campus security officers prohibiting students from eating in their cars, which might easily solve the table problem, but there just seems to be less space than before the addition of stand-up tables.

There is not one explicit lunch problem that needs to be addressed, but rather an array of issues that makes lunch unenjoyable. The food itself is subject to opinion, but no student wants to wait in long, messy lines and sit on the floor. Whether administration plans on addressing these issues or not, the best students can do to maximize the amount of time enjoying lunch is to bring food from home and rush to find a table.