Lunch is an important part of any student’s day. It gives everyone a break from schoolwork, a chance to catch up with friends and the nutrients you need to fuel your body. However, with only 30 minutes, it can be hard to enjoy this break while you are waiting to heat your food up. Plenty of students at Yutan bring lunches from home for many different reasons, ranging from having a meal prep plan to simply disliking school lunches. With only two microwaves in the entire lunch room, however, these students are making lines around the cafeteria while waiting their turn to warm their lunches. This has become a large problem that makes the room crowded and gives some students less time to eat than everyone else. That’s why the Yutan cafeteria needs more microwaves. This would help reduce the long wait time to heat up food and help with the overcrowding in certain areas.
The first problem is overcrowding. While the microwaves are on two completely different sides of the room, one is right around a hotspot for students. This particular microwave happens to be right next to lunch tables, the salad bar and the line to get school lunch. When there are multiple people waiting to use the microwave, it gets very crowded around that area. This is an issue because it holds up lines that are in that area and can feel very claustrophobic.
“Another microwave would be beneficial because it gets really crowded by them and since I do meal prep, I always have to use the microwave,” one sophomore said. Even if the microwave was moved, however, it wouldn’t help solve the problem because the line would just pile up somewhere else.
An even bigger problem is students getting less time to eat because they have to wait so long for their own food. With only 30 minutes to eat, waiting for a turn to heat up food can take a big chunk out of that time.
“Not only is there a ton of people waiting around the microwaves, some people heat up their food for multiple minutes, so by the time it might get to you, lunch could be halfway over,” one senior said.
Lunch provides a nice break for students to fuel their bodies while they chat with friends. Having to wait in line and then rush to eat takes away this potentially relaxing time and can even make it stressful for some students. Even if this time seems long, some students lose half or even more of their eating time because they were patiently waiting for one of the two microwaves to free up. Having to eat really quickly also isn’t good for the students’ bodies, as it can decrease the nutrients their body is getting to supply energy for the rest of the day.
“I have food to heat up almost every day, and it can be really annoying having to wait and then get a limited time to eat,” one junior said.
Problems with overcrowding and not getting enough time to eat are both issues I have experienced first hand. On a normal day, I was running a little late to lunch after my previous hour, and when I got to the lunch room, I walked up to the microwaves to find a giant cluster of people waiting. As I was waiting, countless people were walking around, which caused everyone to be very packed together. Once it was my turn, almost half of lunch was already over and I had yet to heat up my food. By that point, I was very annoyed, and now I rush out of my fourth period class to get to the microwaves first just to have time to eat.
Clearly students could benefit from having another microwave, but there would be a cost. Ranging from 50 to 500 dollars, some microwaves can be a little pricey. However, there are options for less than a hundred dollars. While this isn’t an insignificant amount, it’s very small in the grand scheme of a school budget. Besides, this is worth it because it can ensure all students get the lunch time they need no matter how big or small this problem may seem.
Overall, this issue could be easily fixed with a small purchase. Getting more microwaves would decrease the amount of crowding in areas and increase the time students have to enjoy their lunch. With more than two microwaves in the cafeteria, students could spend less time stressing and more time enjoying their relaxing, nutritious lunches.
