Picture this: a jungle of people running to find their coveted seats, a line of people waiting to purchase lunch that wraps around the corridor, and the sound of lively students trying to catch up before returning to class. Walking toward the cafeteria you can’t help but be overcome by your senses.

Within this sea of student anxiety is common as many are overwhelmed by the commotion. As a result, there is a percentage of students who prefer to forego their high school cafeteria experience by turning to more desolate parts of the school during this short 22-minute break.

Rather than eating school lunch and struggling to find a table and people to sit with, the few who leave the cafeteria go to classrooms to finish homework, find hallways to loiter in, or go to practice rooms to study music.

Lunch for these students is nothing but out of the ordinary. Rather than using the time to socialize, certain students like junior Chris Robinson use this time to their advantage. Robinson spends this time in the music room using the piano to create music and write songs. He says he gets his inspiration to be good at what he does from Miles Davis and echoes Davis’s quote: “Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is”.

During their lunch, seniors India Pearson and Andrea Sanchez either read books or often play card games like Uno. “I don’t like going to lunch because there are so many people and it makes me uncomfortable,” said Sanchez.

“Instead of going to the cafeteria I spend this time doing homework and playing cards with my friends,” said Pearson.

Senior Madison Hill uses her lunch time to relax and catch up with friends.

She often stays in the orchestra room and uses the time to meditate on her day with her friends. “I stay in the orchestra room because Mr. Lawrence is really nice about it,” she said. “I usually catch up on social media or hang out with other friends who have decided to stay. We usually stay after AP music theory and use some of the time to study.”

Lunch isn’t just a time to eat, but a time to grow closer to friends and work on homework. For these students, the cafeteria is nothing but an obstruction to their time because it is noisy and cramped. Instead of going to lunch, many students prefer to satisfy their hunger for education by completing work and taking a break from the hustle and bustle of North Atlanta High School.