Psst…What’s For Lunch? This is a common phrase heard in class, mostly in the classes right before lunch. To the average, student this can affect their behavior, especially their classwork. Many believe this can play a big role in their daily routine and how they function and work, especially on important things like classwork.

To many students, their hunger is affected by the time they eat. These students include Jana Ghoul and Zeinab Eidy. Their classwork, behavior, and their mood is affected by their hunger. Jana Ghoul, an eighth-grader, stated that she gets hangry, which is a mixture of hungry and angry. “When I’m hungry I can’t focus and I dose off, I start thinking of other things like food.” stated Ghoul. She added that she has breakfast if she can, but if she doesn’t eat, means she didn’t have time to. In the aftermath she can barely focus right before lunch. Jana also explained that we should be able to bring a snack so we don’t get as hungry. She added we should be able to bring a snack as long as it’s healthy and we don’t make a mess. Zeinab Eidy, another eighth-grader, always has a hearty breakfast, but she’s always starving right before lunch. “ I always eat eggs or I have bagel and cream cheese.” explained Zeinab. This plays a big role in her behavior. “ When I’m in my class right before lunch, I get lazy.” Eidy also stated that we should be having our lunch earlier so we can focus better.

To many other students, including Jamil Baydoun a seventh-grader, hungry because of their class right before lunch. I spoke with Jamil and he said he is very hungry in his class right before lunch, because he has gym. He added that while he is running around and playing he gets very hungry. “If I don’t eat anything before gym I start starving and I just stop functioning correctly.” added Jamil. Beydoun also explained that the lunch could affect it. “Sometimes the lunch isn’t that good and so some students just skip lunch.” Jana Ghoul supported this. “ The school lunch just doesn’t provide enough nutrition, it’s not giving the benefits it should.” said Ghoul. This is another reason hunger is affecting so many students classwork and their behavior.

While most students are affected by their hunger, some people aren’t affected at all. These students include eighth-grader Ali Saad and sixth-grader Fatme Dabaja. Saad informed me that he doesn’t usually eat breakfast but only gets hungry toward the end of his fourth hour, which is right before lunch. “My behavior is not affected by my hunger but sometimes my classwork is.” explained Ali; “If I ever am too hungry I will have a snack before fourth hour.” Fatme Dabaja had a similar view. She explained that she is never hungry and if she ever is, it never affects her in any way. “I am never hungry, it doesn’t affect me.”

All though most students are affected by their hunger, some aren’t, so how can we fix the problem for the ones affected by it? Jana Ghoul mentioned that we should be able to bring a snack as long as it’s healthy and we don’t make a mess. This would refuel us and we wouldn’t be as hungry. Zeinab Eidy mentioned that we should have our lunch earlier. This would help because if we eat earlier we will not be as hungry in class and before we get too hungry we can eat. Lastly, Jamil Baydoun mentioned that the school should provide better lunches that people like and want to eat. This would solve the problem because people would eat instead of skipping lunch. These are all solutions to the problem and how we can fix it. In conclusion, hunger will always follow people around and stop some people from working normally unless we put a stop to it.

Hussein Chami

Middle School Journalist