“Food is fuel.” 

I’ve grown up hearing this phrase constantly. Whether it be from my parents, healthcare workers, teachers, nutritionists or friends, this phrase has defined my belief on the importance of food for growth. Since the beginning of the spring semester, students are no longer permitted to eat food in classrooms during the school day. 

This new rule seems particularly confusing. By enforcing this rule, that would mean groups of professionals — all of whom are educated on child development — are suggesting that students only eat once in a 30-minute lunch period during a seven hour day. As a student, there are so many days where I do not eat during lunch, instead opting to have one small snack in each of my classes. I know I am not alone in my preference of having an unusual eating schedule, and this new guideline is inconsiderate of anyone who doesn’t eat in the designated time frame. 

In the last five years, lunch has been one of the biggest time blocks of the school impacted by the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2020-21 school year, the block lunch program was removed due to unreliable contact tracing, and now, only three years later, eating options at school are getting further limited. 

Food is beneficial for the mind, as a healthy and regular diet leads to optimal brain function. Our school’s motto is “nothing less than success,” and it seems that with the implementation of this new rule, we are allowing ourselves to be just that. 

This rule was harshly introduced to me while I was taking a snack back to my classroom, and I was told by an administrator that eating a snack in my class was “no longer permitted.” The administrator was not aware of this, but that was a day in which the snack in my hand was the only food I could have eaten during the entire school day. Instead of getting to eat, I was told to leave my food in the front office and pick it up after school, which would mean I would have to wait for the entire second half of the school day to eat anything. This situation is partially my fault; however, had the school been more transparent with the implementation of the rules, and made the announcement more widespread, students would be able to prepare appropriately. 

I have always learned to have three meals a day along with two snacks, as optimal maintenance of blood sugar is done by having food every three to four hours. This equates to about seven snacks a day (not accounting for time sleeping), leaving 2-3 snacks that would fall during school hours. However, this rule has restricted students to one meal during the school day. 

The reason for the implementation of the rule (as told to faculty) is to remove all possibilities of drug consumption at school. There has been an increase of drugs that appear to be common food items, and this rule is the administration’s way of eradicating any possibility of drug consumption in food. This reasoning helps me understand why they have set this rule into place. I would have been even more understanding, potentially even supported the rule at first, had I known this beforehand without a teacher telling me. 

While I have mixed feelings on whether or not this rule should exist, the overall emotions held by members of the student body could have been avoided had administration conveyed expectations and new implementations better. Additionally, I encourage anyone reading this to remember: “Food is fuel,” and fuel makes students run.