On Feb. 3 the lunch bell rang at 11:44 a.m. as it normally does. Students streamed out of their classrooms looking to meet up with friends, catch up on homework, and simply eat. Many of these hungry students ventured to one of the three Pit Stops on campus to quickly purchase their meal and continue on with their lunch.

However as they arrived at their destination, these students were met with long lines and unusually slow service, leaving them frustrated at the amount of time they were spending buying their food.

Jan. 30, every student was given a paper informing them that a new electronic lunch system would be put in place Feb. 3. This sudden change caught many students off guard.

Sophomore Taylor Gray said, “I buy a school lunch almost every day and I was surprised the school decided to change the system. The old way seemed to be working fine.”

The reason stated on the paper for the change was that “The new system will enable parents and students to access their school meal information through the parent/student portal.”

Junior Fabricio Custodio said, “I’m sure the school has their reasons, but I don’t get why they changed it. It’s going to cost more money to get the new equipment, it makes the lines a lot slower, and I don’t see why parents need to track their kid’s lunch purchases. It’s only lunch.”

Custodio is not the only one who feels frustrated by the new system, as many students feel that too much time is being spent waiting to buy their food.”

Sophomore Chris Gehlen said, “So far the new system has been really ineffective. We only get about 50 minutes for our lunch break and I just spent half it waiting in line. I could have used that time to do homework. Hopefully the long wait this week is because the workers are unfamiliar with the new system, or else I’ll probably bring lunch from home more often.”

As the first week under the new lunch system comes to a close, most views behind it have been negative. However, some still hold a positive outlook.

“It’ll eventually get better,” said Custodio. “Hopefully this is just growing pains.”