Driving too fast. Waiting in line. Rushing back to school. Some students make it back in time; some don’t. How can students spend their open lunch AND get their money’s worth? I experimented with different nearby fast food restaurants to see how WCHS students can make the most out of our 34 minute, open lunch.

Many high schools do not give their students permission to go out to eat for their mid-day meal; however, WCHS administrators let our students do so (except for freshmen, of course). In my opinion, going out to lunch instead of staying in a condensed, noisy, cafeteria is quite the privilege. This privilege, however, is actually pretty limited if you take into consideration the drive there, wait in line, wait for food and the drive back.

It is hard to tell whether a fast food restaurant will be busy or not. Mr. Chad Hiett, a manager at the West Carrollton McDonald’s, said, “The lunch rush is so random. Sometimes everyone comes at noon, and sometimes everyone comes at 11. It is too hard to know if a certain restaurant will be busy or not at a definite time.” Even though Mr. Hiett is a manager at McDonald’s, this applies to places such as Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and other restaurants WCHS students might visit during open lunch.

As I go out to find the best way to spend open lunch, I take multiple variables into consideration. Of course, I must go exactly the speed limit – even though it may anger the driver behind me – and follow all road laws. I take note of the time of arrival, the meal, its cost and the time I got back to the school. All of this information will help give students at WCHS a better idea of where to go for lunch.

Many restaurants do not live up to par. As I walk into Wendy’s, the sight of the line is  atrocious. It looks like people have been standing in line for many years. Trash was piling upon the floor, like the place was abandoned. On a normal day, I would’ve left and gone somewhere else, however, for this experiment, I decided to stay in line. Sadly the greasy fries and hamburgers never touched my taste buds as I had to head back to school before I was late.

Other restaurants such as McDonald’s and KFC were fast, quick, and had wonderful customer service. McDonald’s had quite a line; however, it moved fairly quickly and I was able to smell the fresh fries coming from the paper bag in no time. I was able to return to the high school in 14 minutes (imagine if there wasn’t a line!). I had a similar experience at KFC. The only difference was that it took two minutes longer and no line, so if there was a line, the time would’ve taken a lot longer.

According to my research/experience, student can go to the same place every day and receive different results. Therefore, my suggestion would to go to McDonald’s for lunch. McDonald’s is a quick, cheap way to eat for lunch (even with a long line). However, if a student prefers more “quality” food for nearly the same price, I would recommend KFC. KFC has several five dollar meal plans for quality food (such as three piece tenders or pot pies), yet the wait would be longer here than at McDonald’s.

To conclude, yes, students only have 34 minutes to get lunch. I believe that the importance of time is priority one, however, spending your lunch with content relaxation and fun is also sensational. As I conducted this experiment, I learned that lunch rushes are more random than always being at noon. Students complain about the short amount of time, but honestly, there are many ways to get the most out of their lunch.