It is about time that we speak about the elephant in the room. Since Hawthorne High School introduced the drop-schedule a few years ago, the multiple lunch periods merged into one slot that lasted about 45 minutes. All appeared well; however, the incoming classes of freshmen kept increasing. Last year, the amount of students in the school became too much for the single period to handle. Thus, the topic of another lunch period emerged. Introduced this year, the student body is split between two periods of lunch. The first period begins at 11:02 while the second starts at 12:02. In between the two lunches is a twelve minute grace period so that the janitors and cafeteria workers can prepare for the second wave.

The freshmen know no different, but the upperclassmen have memories of a single period where you could find and speak to anyone you pleased. Since everyone was at lunch, students could wander from either lunchroom without being stopped. The previous year, the band room, ceramic room, and library were opened for the students to dine in. Many students also ate on the floor along the senior hallway. The students were comfortable on the ground; the higher-ups were concerned about the safety of having the hallway blocked with so many high schoolers. It was also common for those who ate in the hallway to leave their trash on the ground which made it easy for students to step in it accidentally.

Presently, the band and ceramic rooms are no longer used as a cafeteria. The library has also retired its lunchroom status. It has been quite a change, but the students are slowly getting used to the shifting lunch periods on any given day. The most radical change would have to be remembering which period you have lunch and who you will sit with that day. It is also harder to attend the workshops that the library does every Tuesday and Thursday. All these, are, however, minor changes. As the year goes on, all kinks will be smoothed over, and everything will run as smoothly as it did before the split lunch. On the bright side, the students still have the same amount of time to eat lunch, and the seniors can still go out.