Mixed Advisory Lunches: Uncomfortable and Unnecessary
In each issue, two Reserve Record writers debate an issue for “The Coin.” October’s issue is the Pros vs. Cons of Mixed Advisory Lunches.
Aiden Sohn ’26
Contributing Writer
Western Reserve Academy is a robust community where different cultures and backgrounds are mixed in, broadening students’ perspectives and experiences. While making new connections happens naturally by being involved in the community, a system called Mixed Lunch was designed to try to artificially create the desired environment for these connections.
Six–eight students and one faculty member are randomly selected to sit at a table and eat together every other Wednesday, and after two mixed lunch rotations, new people are selected again. In theory, this is a great system that allows students to meet and make new friends with the guidance of the faculty member, but this system fails to do so in every single way.
This system is fundamentally flawed because it is meant for students to make new friends at an awkward time. The first mixed lunch session in the 2023–2024 school year was on September 6th, while the new student orientation started on August 21st. This means that there were approximately sixteen days from the start of the new student orientation to the first mixed lunch session for new students to get to know each other, which is more than enough time for casual relationships to form over common interests.
Add in the fact that mixed lunches are forty minutes long at maximum and occur every other week, without factoring in school breaks. Given this timeframe, no meaningful relationships can realistically form. Plus, after two sessions, the people students are supposed to talk to change, and they wouldn’t see their new “friends” because they all have different interests, classes, and previously existing friend groups.
Returning students also do not gain anything from this because they have already made long-lasting friendships. Preventing them from talking with their close friends only increases the students’ dislike of the system and willingness to leave earlier.
Mixed Lunch not only fails to achieve its intended purpose, but it also makes eating lunch uncomfortable for most people involved.
After interviewing over twenty students, ranging from day, boarding, freshmen, and seniors, the general consensus is that students are not willing to talk to each other and that the environment is awkward and tense.
Faculty try their best to have small conversations by using icebreakers. Still, these conversations fizzle out after two to three minutes, restoring the silent and awkward environment that’s only broken by the silverware clinking on the plates.
Some might argue that learning to talk to new people is a valuable skill to learn, but practicing this skill every two weeks isn’t necessary. There are numerous new clubs, sports opportunities, and community gatherings that allow this to happen naturally. Forcing students to get out of their comfort zone is not what an open community should do.
Mixed Lunch occurs every two weeks on Wednesdays, which means that the already sparse advisory lunches are getting even rarer. This is a big problem because there are few opportunities for advisories to meet and talk to each other since it is improbable that all six–eight students have the same free period or no other important plans.
Ironically, the program that is created to foster new relationships is undermining the progress of an already existing and better program.
Students are not the only ones who have issues with mixed lunches replacing advisory lunches. Multiple teachers have also expressed their concerns with the system, expressing that they miss eating with the advisory group that they are familiar with even though they get to meet new students they otherwise wouldn’t have.
So, what is the best way to encourage students to create new relationships with people they wouldn’t have known? The answer is very simple: get rid of mixed lunches and encourage advisory activity.
Advisory groups are chosen at random at the start of the year, so students and faculty get to know each other for at least a full school year. If restoring advisory lunches once a week is not an option for unknown reasons, simply getting rid of mixed lunches will benefit everyone since the negatives drastically outweigh the positives.
Mixed lunch is not worth precious advisory time, and it is best to remove the flawed system altogether, but at the end of the day, at least we get to tell our name, grade, and favorite color to a student we will never talk to again.
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