All alone in my lunch zone

By Rachel Levin, Copy Editor

For many students, school functions as a social scene. They come to school in order to see their friends, and it might be the only place they make friends. Regardless of the situation, when lunch rolls around, people look forward to complaining about difficult tests or boring lessons with their friends. Now, during COVID-19, this time is more crucial than ever. Many people came to in-person school in the hopes of making new friends and discovering the school for the first time, but when it comes time for lunch, the lunch zones policy prevents them from doing that. As it has happened for me, students are separated from each other, from maybe the only thing that makes a long day feel bearable, by a fence, or a wall, or a teacher. What are they meant to do then?

There are three lunch zones: Innovation quad, History quad and the Senior benches. There happens to be many more people relegated to the Innovation quad than the History quad and Senior benches combined. Neither my fourth nor my third period classes are in the Innovation quad, which means I almost never get to meet with the people I would like to. Luckily, I am a social person, and I find people to sit with. Some people are just not as social, so they must sit alone. They get no relief from a grueling day of stress in a year more stressful than most. Sitting alone in a normal situation is bad, not just because there is no one to keep you company, but because you feel ostracized. You feel like you don’t belong. No one should have to feel that, especially not people who could have friends to sit with if not for the arbitrary boundaries set in an unnecessarily unfair way.

That’s the kicker— there are better ways to have organized a COVID-19 safe lunch environment, ones that would allow students to choose who to sit with and still limit how many people sit in a certain area. How about a signup sheet on Enriching Students for each lunch area with a limited capacity? How about just splitting us up by grade instead of by building. Most friend groups are made up of the same grade anyway, it would not have been so hard. I can understand the need to be safe, in fact I would be more upset if the school administration had no regard for student health, but it angers me that they did not consider the effect this arrangement would have on students.

It also doesn’t seem that they have any inclination to change anything. The other day, when I was meant to be sitting on the senior benches, walked over to innovation where my friend had no one to sit with and asked the teacher if I could sit there, just this once, to keep my friend company. She turned me away, no sympathy. Would one student really make a difference? So many students sneak in anyway, what’s one more? These ridiculous rules must be upheld even with better ways in sight. 

Do Samo students really need another thing to dread? Lunch is the part of the day most of us look forward to. Must they take that away as well?