Prior to the 2024-2025 school year, students of Athens Drive had an A and B lunch system. Many students complained that lunch was too short and that they could not eat and chat with friends who had a different lunch period. This year, the student council and administration teamed up to compromise and give students what they wanted: one lengthy lunch period, called Smart lunch.

Smart lunch will give students the opportunity to eat lunch for half the time and use the other half to receive help with their studies. The first half of Mondays will be English. The second half will be for science and world language/ESL. The first half of Tuesdays will be for math. The second half will be for social studies and healthful living. The first half of Wednesdays will be for English. The second half will be for fine arts and CTE. The first half of Thursdays will be for Math. The second half will be for CTE, science and world languages/ ESL. The first half of Fridays will be for fine arts/CTE. The second half will be for social studies/ healthful living.

“Smart lunch gives students the chance to make up work or study for upcoming tests. It gives them space to maintain other things outside of school,” said Madison Tabert, senior. 

For the first twenty days of the school year, students will continue to run their A and B 34 minute lunch schedule. After the first 20 days, students will be able to have lunch all together. Smart lunch will begin after their third period, starting at noon,and ending at 12:45 p.m. This will give freshmen and sophomores 45 minutes, and due to off campus lunch passes, juniors and seniors will have 50 minutes of lunch.

 “I think this is going to be a good opportunity for students to finally eat lunch with friends that they rarely got to with the old lunch schedule,” said Ashlyn Hall, senior.

The majority of students seem to like the idea of smart lunch a lot better than Athens Drive’s older lunch system. Others believe there are downsides to gaining a lunch like this. With Smart Lunch being added in, Drive time will be taken out. Drive time was a comfort for some, a 24-minute period in which students were able to catch up on work, catch up on current Athens Drive events and connect.  Many students formed connections with their drivetime teachers and classmates. 

“I’ve been with the same drive time teacher for three years,and I’m going to miss the 30 minutes we all had together every few weeks,” said Hall.

Many students and teachers have advocated for a return to smart lunch over the past few years. However, to some the new schedule came as a surprise, especially to first year or second year students. All of which are wondering why Athens chose to bring smart lunch back. 

“Some of the reason for their advocacy included a longer lunch time, ability to have time with teachers for acceleration or intervention if help is needed with work/homework, ability for clubs to meet during the school day, more time to take advantage of off-campus lunch for juniors and seniors and ability for teachers to meet in professional learning teams during the school day,” said Amanda Boshoff, Principal. 

Having one lunch for all 2200 students can get hectic. Issues that the administration needed to consider with SMART lunch included: Students and teachers alike will need to work together in order to keep this lunch schedule. Teachers could dedicate and utilize their time to students to benefit each other. Students will have to clean up after themselves, be respectful to each other and follow school rules and policies. Otherwise, Smart lunch will be put on probation for a period of time. 

“Any individual offenders, including those who engage in physical altercations, may have Smart lunch taken away on an individual basis for up to a quarter after receiving consequences for the incident,” said Boshoff. 

Students have awaited this moment for a long time; Having a longer lunch with more time to hang out with friends, go off campus and work on academics. Students will have to make sure to follow school policies and regulations in order to keep this lunch in the 2024-2025 school year and the future.

“We believe that we have the best student body in the nation, and that our students deserve all opportunities available to have the best high school experience possible. We hope that Smart lunch will provide some additional time to de-stress, engage in physical activity, get work done, work with teachers, and engage in club opportunities at the Drive,” said Boshoff.