v  By Ashley Bagwell

   It’s the staple of every day in high school; it is the bright light halfway through the dark tunnel on each seemingly never-ending day we spend here; it is lunch.

    Lunch is something every student has in common, and like everyone else, it is the only chance to break out of the more or less perpetual learning environments students often find themselves in. The only question, what makes the perfect lunch?

   Students typically have two options as to where their lunch comes from. They can either bring a lunch from home, or buy a lunch from the school in the cafeteria.

   “I bring my lunch because it’s cheaper for me to bring it, and I can bring whatever I want instead of the limited choices given to me by the cafeteria,” said Heather Cook, junior. “I am also able to avoid the long cafeteria lines.”

   Other students prefer the simplicity of a school bought lunch despite the long lines because it meets their basic needs and they don’t require anything more.

   “I buy my lunch because I’m too lazy to bring it every day,” said Seth Wynn, junior. “The food isn’t necessarily the best, but it’s still food.”

    But are the possibilities really as endless as they seem? For food to be considered healthy it must meet certain criteria. This can greatly limit the options students have when bringing their own lunch.

   “Student’s have more choices if they buy their lunch because now that there are no microwaves on campus students can only bring room temperature lunches because cold lunches must be stored at bellow 40 degrees to be safe,” said Tommy Bates, cafeteria manager.

   The school cafeteria sells between 2,000 and 2,100 lunches in a day. Every lunch meets health requirements and is much fresher than any home brought lunch.

   “I believe students should buy their lunches because for one reason a hot nutritious lunch is a lot healthier than the cold sandwiches most students bring,” said Bates. “Also, school lunches are safer, in the cafeteria we follow specific health regulations that can not be met by a student’s locker.”