The time for off campus lunch should be extended.

Hungry, hustling students rush out to grab a bite. Time ticks—traffic tenses the trip. Driving isn’t easy under the pressure of a ticking clock.

Fast food is not necessarily fast; therefore time can be an issue to many teens. Students should be given more time to get lunch, consume it, and head back to their classes. It’s way past time to get cookin’ for a change.

Off campus lunch stands as a privilege to all upperclassmen, but the period to convey it is limited. The amount of time it takes to even leave the parking lot eats up the time students have to actually enjoy the ‘privilege’ given to them.

With such a short period to eat, students do not even have the opportunity to finish their meals. To make things worse, attendance sneaks into the scenario. Records show that the amount of attendance issues concerning periods that follow lunch have sky-rocketed. More students arrive late to their next class due to the lack of time provided. They are continuously getting chomped on by their teachers for it.

Others may say that the time for lunch should be the same for all the students, but if they are given the freedom of going off campus they should at least be able to enjoy it without worrying about being late to your next class. Furthermore, the school should think about how long it takes to actually get to the fast food strip and incorporate that time into an extended period.

Off campus lunch should be at least an hour and half for eligible upperclassmen.  That gives them enough time to go get lunch and get back to school after eating. Adding extra time will eliminate absences and accidents in the parking lot for all of the students rushing in and out of the school.

Instead of making students feel like they are racing against a timer, they should be allowed to enjoy what has been given to them. Driving to and from school shouldn’t be eating up our lunch period, leave the eating to the students. Let’s raise our forks and get more time.