A Freshman’s Point of View

This year has held a lot of firsts for the class of 2022. We started high school and had to adapt to a new building. We are also the first class that will not be allowed out for lunch in Sophomore year. This is a first that no one is happy about.

Mr. Gomez said, “In an effort to enhance safety for underclassmen in all of the high schools, the Principals and Central Office Administration felt that a closed campus for 9th and 10th graders is warranted. Closing campus for both grades instead of one has been a concern raised by many community members over the last few years. As a result, we believe that it needs to get implemented as early as next year.”

All throughout middle school, we looked forward to going out for lunch in tenth grade. But now, we can’t go out until eleventh grade. This has not gone over well with this year’s Freshman class. Let’s get the opinion of some of these people.

According to Freshman Mandy Ni, “I think it’s understandable why they would do it, like for security purposes, but I think it’s a little over the top and it’s annoying.”
In addition, Ava Renna said, “It’s not fair how this year’s Sophomores can go out for lunch, but we can’t next year because of this new policy.”

So as you can see, this idea has not gone over well with the Freshmen. We will be stuck in the cafeteria for another year instead of going out. That will not be fun. Wish us luck!

A Junior’s Point of View

It’s a great matter of discussion whether we should be allowed or not to go out for lunch. Everyone except Freshmen are allowed to do it, and there’s a reason for that. Since they’re new in the building, they have to learn the rules; being the youngest, they should follow our example. It’s a matter of security and reassurance for the school to have them staying here; it’s about their safety.

Personally, writing as a Junior, I believe there are certain restrictions that need to be in place. It makes sense having Freshmen stay at school for this period, but what about the other grades? Where is the necessity?

Let’s try to be open minded. It has already been decided that next year Sophomores are not going to be able to go out for lunch. The same grade will be stuck in the same cafeteria for two years. I understand the complaints, and I feel like if it was me in their position, I would be annoyed too. It’s not fair seeing the current sophomores ‘free’ to do as they please on their lunch periods. There’s nothing wrong with thinking this way and I completely understand if people are mostly against it, but let’s try to see it as a good opportunity to unify as a grade and share more time with each other.

I consider my lunch period fun. There’s always a group of students singing, and I feel like this cheers me up. Sometimes I even find myself singing the lyrics of the songs too without noticing. But the best moments are whenever all the people in the cafeteria start singing together: I feel the connection. Being honest, I think this can be considered more as opportunity to get together and bond with each other, because unity is what we’re lacking.

What do you think? Email your thoughts to [email protected] and get your voice heard!