The cafeteria buzzes with the sounds of students pulling out chairs and sitting down to eat with their friends as they take a much-needed break from the sounds of pencils on paper and fingers on a keyboard.

A recent schoolwide survey offers a glimpse into where students chose to get their food from.

Senior Aqua Henderson said she usually ate school lunch in order to avoid unnecessary spending.

“It’s free, so it keeps me from overspending on extra things that I don’t need,” Henderson said.

For other students, access to outside food, not cost, determined the source of their lunch, such as junior Jaynasha Ealom.

“My group home usually won’t let me bring food from the house,” Ealom said. “Sometimes I have to beg them to let me take something.”

A Google Form survey distributed schoolwide, which received 29 responses, provided insight into the lunchtime habits of T-High students of all grade levels. Of the respondents, 20 said that they usually ate school lunch, 5 said they ate lunch from home, and four said that they left campus.

Of those 20 students, eight said they ate lunch out of convenience, six said it was due to a lack of access to outside food, four responded with some kind of financial reason, 2 said they ate lunch for social reasons and one responded that it was for the taste.

All respondents answered the question: “What is your favorite school lunch, and why?” Crispitos took the lead with six responses, followed by spicy chicken (both nuggets and sandwiches) with five total votes. Chicken wings of various flavors fell shortly behind with four votes; while nachos, breakfast for lunch, egg rolls and rice, pasta, pizza, and taquitos collectively earned seven votes.

One senior who responded that chicken wings were their favorite school lunch, Jacob Lester, cited the “small variety” of flavors students could choose from.

“The wings have a small variety of different sauces, but it gives students a few options that can suit their tastes,” Lester said.