Lunch is cherished as the best part of the school day for many students. Those beloved 20 minutes hold a lot of importance for students of Eagan, and recently there have been some changes. The lunch line is now separated into two lines by a rope: one for the main entree and another for the grill line. 

Part of the reason for this is the increase in students at EHS. There are about 300 more students in the entirety of the school this year, which complicates lunch. There has been a lot more disorganization in the lines and the lunch room overall. The nutrition services staff noticed this and decided to take action. “Some of us in the kitchen met with the administration to figure out how we can try to reduce crowding….and cutting in lines,” Jane Peterson, the food and nutrition services manager explained to me. “Students were coming up and cutting past 30, 40 people and just going in to get their things so that was very frustrating.” To combat this problem, they set up the line separators all the way at the end of the line.

So far, they have noticed that there is less cutting in line and less crowding at the cash registers. People can get in and out more safely and efficiently, and there seems to be more room for everyone to grab their lunch. “We are open to feedback,” Ms. Peterson told me. The new lunch system is definitely not permanent and the kitchen would love to hear students’ thoughts on how to improve it.