STAC lunch is the new alternative to the previous year’s SMART lunch, and there are pros and cons to this new lunch. Even though this lunch isn’t loved by many, their are many pros to STAC lunch.

STAC Lunch: the Background

Last year, SMART lunch allowed for AP students to meet with teachers. However, this year’s lunch focuses on tutoring students who are failing their classes. This lunch idea is a partnership with National Honor Society members to be the tutors every Tuesday and Thursday, which is when it happens. This idea is known as peer tutoring. The benefits of peer tutoring has been written about, and the NEA writes that, “when students participated in the role of reading tutor, improvements in reading achievement occurred… students benefited from peer tutoring in some way, but same-age tutors were as effective as cross-age tutors.” So peer tutoring is clearly effective, but no one knows if it will work out for this lunch.

Everyone wants to see how STAC lunch will end up working out. So what are students and teachers alike saying?

Teacher Opinion

STAC lunch was encouraged and introduced as a new version of SMART lunch by the school principal, Mr. Pace. However, two teachers- English teachers Mr. Hutchinson and Mrs. DiChiara- have also had an important part in creating this lunch. As the new adviser of National Honor Society, Mr. Hutchinson has been working on adding new activities to National Honor Society, and STAC lunch is one of them.

Mr. Hutchinson told the Declaration that “the real benefit to STAC lunch is going to be to provide an opportunity for extra help for everybody, but specifically an at-risk population that could possibly avoid failure by having time built into the existing school day to get extra help. It’s hard for anybody to come before and after school, and this eliminates that obstacle. So it’s just one more opportunity for students to be able to improve their achievement, do well and not have to rely on a late bus or a parent/guardian bringing them earlier. So hopefully this will improve achievement and establish this idea of study hall.”

English teacher Mr. Long said on STAC lunch that “it’s a great opportunity for tutoring and for students to be productive.”

Student Opinions

What do students think of this new lunch idea? Many students are neutral, but many others seem excited or interested about the new lunch. With NHS students being an integral part of this, it is important to get their thoughts on this.

Junior student Hifza Avais said that “it’s a great opportunity to get all my work done. I’m going to get all my work done.”

Senior student Rachel Sowinski, the president of NHS, says “We have an hour break in the middle of the day, and it’s good that we can tutor students who need it in that hour.” Although STAC lunch is unpopular among some students, many others see it as a great opportunity.

SMART lunch was very controversial last year– many students liked it, but many didn’t, and it was eventually cancelled. STAC lunch will run from February to April, and clubs will have opportunities to meet during this time. Block 1 will run from 7:50 to 9:15, five minutes earlier, Block 2 will run from 9:20 to 10:40, ten minutes earlier, and block 3 will run from 10:45 to 12:05, also ten minutes earlier. Lunch A is for grades 11 and 12, while lunch B is for grades 9 and 10. After that, Block 4 runs from 1:10 to 2:30. At the beginning of this lunch idea, everyone is waiting to see how STAC lunch will shape up.