With the implementation of the new bell schedule and subsequent lunch-study periods, the number of lunch periods decreased from five to four. This has caused the number of people in the cafeterias at a time to increase by almost a third.

At North Campus, the influx hasn’t been very noticeable with the opening of the new cafeteria built last year.

“It’s hard to believe that there’s around 500 people in [the cafeteria] with you while you eat,” Dominic Pavone ‘17 said. “It seems so open and modern.”

With six check out lines and just as many cashiers, the flow moves pretty steadily and, typically, nobody feels rushed to eat. But no more than a mile south on Willow Springs Road, the same can’t be said.

“The visual difference between the SC cafeteria last year and this year are like night and day,” Cameron Cowan ‘18 said. “There really isn’t any other way to put it.”

With more students being scheduled into fewer periods, lines have grown and tables are often crowded. In the past, open tables were a common sight, and now they’re a rare one, Cowan said.

“Last year you could sit where you wanted, have lunch with your friends, and then change tables to talk to a different group if you wanted,” Cowan said. “There was always room. You could bring homework or a book if you wanted or needed to. Now it’s always difficult to find a table.”

The increase in students eating together affects tables, but it also affects them when they’re standing. The lines for hot food as well as for snacks and drinks have grown exponentially, Kayla Brundnicki ’18 said. The lines are so long at times, that some students have stopped buying from the cafeteria all together.

“Since the lines have slowed, I haven’t been eating lunch,” Brudnicki said. “Waiting in the line takes too much time. So now I just bring a drink and socialize.”

However not every reaction is negative.

“I have to give the school credit. Everyone says the same thing– lunch sucks, but study hall has saved our lives,” Cowan said. “We go home with less homework, which means less stress, more sleep and better attitudes.”