For Tampa Prep seniors, the length of lunch has always been an issue. The lunch break at Tampa Prep currently lasts only 40 minutes, and seniors deserve longer. 40 minutes is an inadequate amount of time to socialize with friends. It often takes us several minutes to walk to our respective lunch areas and back to class once it ends, leaving less time for us to take advantage of the already short break. 

As seniors, the primary challenge we face during lunch is driving off-campus to purchase food and returning quickly enough to attend our next classes on time. Eating lunch off campus is one of the most popular privileges among the senior class, but taking advantage of it is unrealistic under the limited timeframe. Even buying food from restaurants and grocery stores located in downtown Tampa, within only a mile from school grounds, is almost impossible to do without showing up late to class.

“It makes me feel like going to off-campus lunch is not worth it,” said senior Aiden Wozniak. “We are given this privilege, but we do not have enough time to use it.”

Not only does the shortened lunch allow little time to exercise this privilege, but also causes unnecessary stress impacting senior’s mental and emotional well-being.

“I feel stressed out because I am worried about getting back to class in time,” said senior Jia Habib.

While we have openly expressed our support for combining the 10-minute break between second and third period with lunch, Tampa Prep’s upper school administration has lagged in making any efforts to implement this improvement. As we are becoming increasingly impatient with the administration’s failure to acknowledge our desires, we are starting to be more vocal.

“We have a 10-minute break, but nobody uses it,” said senior Benjamin Dourney. “Lunch is too short, so we should add the 10-minute break to lunch.”

Tampa Prep should extend the lunch break so that seniors can exercise the off-campus privilege they deserve and spend more quality time with their friends.