While at CHS, junior Carly Beard has only had a lunch period once. Beard exemplifies a growing trend among ambitious (or just unlucky) students at CHS, who forgo the favorite period of the majority of students.

With dozens of possible classes to take, seven periods and a zero-hour class may not be enough for some students.  Beard feels that having the extra class can make a great difference in her learning.

“I choose to give up my lunch because I want to take full advantage of the diverse classes offered here,” Beard said.  “This year, by not having a lunch period, I will be able to add personal finance, U.S. government, Latin and two history classes. Would I trade a daily 46-minute break for the ability to take all of these courses?  Absolutely not.”

However, there are some obvious downsides to skipping lunch; humans still need to eat.  Passing periods are too short for any significant consumption, and lasting almost seven hours without food takes a toll on performance in school. Fortunately, most of Beard’s teachers have been relaxed towards eating in class.

“The vast majority of my teachers have supported or at least tolerated my eating during class,” Beard said.  “I try to be a healthy eater, which definitely makes teachers more lenient in allowing me to munch during their class.  I mean, what teacher would not allow a student to eat an apple or snack on carrots during their class?”

Another downside is that scheduling time with teachers is more difficult.

“With my clubs and a zero-hour before school, no lunch and then athletics and extracurriculars after school, it is difficult to schedule English conferences and help sessions with teachers,” she said.

Because of the many disadvantages of having a full schedule, most students choose to keep their lunches.  Senior Noam Kantor chooses to leave a lunch in his schedule this year after having a full schedule his junior year.  He feels that lunch can be useful for getting work done while class is still fresh in the mind.

“I tend to either talk with friends or go to the library during lunch to rest or do homework,” Kantor said. “Although I could do these things after school, it helps to have room during the day which is already sandwiched by intellectual activities during which I can do my work. Overall, I think it’s important that a student have lunch in order to meet people and have a break in the day.”

Others simply want to relax after a morning of work.  Senior Jack Wei enjoys socializing and Frisbee during his lunch and feels that it helps him prepare for an afternoon of classes.

“I think lunch is important to my school life because I like my food and don’t want to be hungry for the rest of the day,” Wei said. “I like having two free periods every day so that I can be relaxed before my next class instead of having class all day.”

Although the difficulty of making the decision of filling in the lunch period ultimately rests on the student’s shoulders, counselors play a large role in the creation of the schedule.  Tobie Smith, counselor for the sophomore class, believes strongly in the importance of lunch, especially for freshmen and sophomores.

“It’s not the eating aspect of lunch that I’m concerned about,” Smith said. “I know that the students can get the food in. It’s more about the freedom that comes with a lunch.  It’s the only period in the day where students are totally in control of their situations.”

Last year, Smith created the first set of schedules that enabled nearly all of the freshmen to have full lunch periods, with very few exceptions. However, as freshmen become juniors and seniors, the decisions that counselors must make become more difficult.

“If a student has two languages and, say, a band or orchestra class, something that they have put a commitment to that can’t just be pushed off to junior or senior year, I think that’s a good enough reason,” Smith said. “But if it’s just for an elective that could easily be taken junior or senior year, then I think that lunch should take precedent.”

As a student with two languages, theater and a clear desire to learn, Beard certainly fits those guidelines.  However, the choice between lunch and class is not always so clear. With the freedom open to take more varied, specialized classes combined with backbreaking workloads, it can sometimes be difficult to choose whether to trade lunch for a new elective or extra class. Nevertheless, for most students, lunch continues to be an oasis, the one period to look forward to in the long school day.