The school schedule has changed, with the day ending five minutes earlier. This also means lunch is five minutes shorter. Getting back to class in time after lunch is more difficult for some students, like Lainey Shevlin, junior.

 “I’m a chronically late person and the traffic during lunch is absolutely terrible,” Shevlin said. “And so trying to get somewhere to get food and back in time is extremely difficult and the five minutes less does not help that issue. If you go to McDonald’s, you barely have time to, like, get through the drive thru and drive back immediately.”

This has also been affecting club meetings. Erin O’Malley, French teacher,  has noticed these issues in her position as the adviser of the French club.

  “It was a nice time to be able to just have a break and slow down and meet with students if you had club meetings,” O’Malley said. “We had our first French club meeting last week, and it was so fast, like by the time everyone gets here, we have our activities. That’s it, it was just time to go basically.” 

For several clubs, lunch is the only time they get to meet. This means they are not able to accomplish as much as they would with past schedules.

“I think that’ll be something that we’ll see more too, as more clubs get started after [the] club fair,” O’Malley said.

For students who have to leave campus, the shorter lunch makes getting to class on time more difficult. And even if students do make it to class on time, the stress can still have an impact on them.

“I’m always in such a better mood at fourth period, because I got my little break in but I need the break to be longer because if you’re going off campus, it is really stressful to get back in time,” Shevlin said.

This year is also introducing the five minute bell, during lunch. This along with the two minute bell, acts as an extra reminder for students to make their way to their next class. 

“That five minute warning bell makes it feel like it’s a 10 minute shorter lunch, ” O’Malley said. “[It] kind of means students were starting to come in earlier than they would have normally because they would wait until that two minute bell before they even started approaching class. But more students are on time, so that’s helpful.” 

There will also be a schedule change next year. There will be eight classes in total, with four being taken per day.

“Next year, they’re talking about having a totally new schedule change,” O’Malley said. “We will have an eight period A [and] B day and that’ll be a whole ‘nother experience. But otherwise it’s really similar to what we’ve had in the past, just a couple minutes here and there. For whatever reason, this couple of minutes it really felt like it just makes it go a lot quicker.”