Upon hearing about the theme for the upcoming Lunch Bunch, hosted by the gracious Dr. Debra Munk, I thought ‘What could be better than free pizza and talking about the Harry Potter series with all my fellow nerds?’

The answer? Pretty much nothing. Entering the staff lounge, many questions popped into my head. Am I going to be allowed to speak my mind freely in front of Dr. Munk? What if the other kids laugh at me? What if I’m the only one who actually came to talk about Harry Potter? What if the pizza was no good? My fears we’re all quieted the moment we started our discussion. As always, Dr. Munk was open and friendly and had many thought provoking questions for my peers and I, even if we had to agree to disagree on certain topics. The pizza was delicious and I was allowed to as many slices as I wanted and I was allowed free water.

As appealing as the free lunch is, the discussion was probably worth more than the lunch (not literally, but figuratively). Everyone in the room was heard equally and the only laughing was with each other, not at each other. Even Student Support Specialist Daniel Garcia and Assistant Principal Dyan Gomez dropped by to put in their two cents. The other great thing about the meeting was that everyone actually knew what they were talking about. Everyone in the room had read all of the books and a lot of them had read them multiple times (including me).

The bell signified the ending of our lunch and I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one who shared the same sentiment of not wanting to go. The entire experience was worth missing hanging out with my friends for a lunch period and was actually the highlight of my day. Of course, after lunch, I paraded around talking about how awesome it was and that everyone should do it. But most importantly, it was predestined that I go to lunch bunch (as it is for most of you after reading this) because Dr. Munk and I share the same favorite Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”.