Cafeteria microwaves remain subpar

For a lot of students who like to bring lunch from home instead of purchasing the cafeteria food, a microwave is an essential tool to properly prepare their meal. Unfortunately for these students, the four microwaves that are available do not stack up in terms of efficiency in more ways than one.

Although students are grateful to have microwaves to use, the appliances have a lot of flaws. Compared to a normal microwave, the cafeteria microwaves have almost no power left in them. With having practically negative power comes the fact that the food of students can sometimes be barely heated after a normal amount of time. Sophomore and daily microwave user Zoe Marinacci has a lot of experience with the poor performance of the microwaves. “They get used a lot and take a long time,” said Marinacci. A student has to take twice as much time than is necessary to get their food prepared.

The longer it takes a single student to heat up what they want heated, the more likely it is that a line will form. In fact, it is very rare to be in the cafeteria at either lunch period and not see a cluster of people swarming around the devices. Senior Abigail Greene confirms the struggle and said, “I always have to wait in line.” A lot of time is wasted just standing around for a microwave to become available. “It takes a while for my food to get warm too,” said Greene. If time waiting in line is considered in conjunction with the time it takes for the microwaves to work the way they should, an average student can see close to one third of their lunch period being focused on what should be a simple task.

Along with their performance, the location of the microwaves is hardly beneficial. The influx of eager students that happens every single day at the beginning of the lunch period causes major traffic jams between people trying to go purchase lunch and those trying to heat theirs up. Students using the microwaves also do not have any place to stand without it being awkward. They are pinned by lunch tables, trash cans, and the infamous wall of aged microwaves.
In the near future, students deserve to see new microwaves that work correctly. When this finally happens, all the problems that the current appliances make will dissipate.

The school district should consider having more than just four too, but ones that simply work with more power and efficiency would be just as nice.