Students should be allowed to leave campus for lunch

by Alyssa R.

In previous years students have been allowed to leave campus to get lunch but in recent years this privilege has been taken away.

At many other high schools students are allowed to leave campus to get lunch instead of eating school food. For example Whitney Young located in Illinois is one of a few schools who allow open lunch for all grades, but other schools like Lincoln Park High School, also located in Illinois, allow open lunch for only upperclassmen, and some schools in South Carolina, like Gray Collegiate, also allow open campus lunch. However at Airport high students are forced to stay on campus for lunch and are not allowed to get food from elsewhere.

High school students should be allowed to leave campus for lunch and return to school afterwards.

First of all, leaving campus for lunch could help students relax and get a break from the stressful school environment. Lunch rooms are very crowded and stressful to be in, but if students had another place to go during lunch time it would help them relax and be able to focus better in their next class. Having open campus lunch also helps improve mental health and academic performance.

Secondly, an open campus would give students more options for their meal. Some students don't eat because they don't like the food at school or that their parents make for them, so more options would encourage them to eat during lunch. Another problem for students is that many of them have food allergies, and while the school tries hard to accommodate for students with these allergies, it's hard to accommodate for everything, and having an open campus would help these students get a nourishing lunch they will enjoy.

A third point relates to funding. In the year 2022 the US government spent around 28.7 million dollars on school lunches according to the US national school lunch program. By allowing students to leave campus less students would be eating school lunch therefore less money would need to be spent by the school district on food. Since less money would be spent on food, the funds could go to other benefiting factors like sports teams and equipment. They could also put the fund towards more events or clubs at the school. For example the money could go towards buying new jerseys and equipment for sports teams or funding different clubs, or more school field trips.

People who are against having open campus lunch might say things about students not returning back to school once they leave, safety concerns about students being unsupervised, and things like increased traffic in the area as students flock to leave, or students not returning in time. For students not returning to school, for one you could punish them or do like Lincoln park high school that only allows upperclassmen to leave for lunch because they should be responsible enough to return. Another thing that could be done is give more time for students to return to class accommodating the travel time and potential traffic. And as for safety concerns, if you're a school that is around food places students wouldn't be traveling as far to get lunch so there would be less possibility for students to get in an accident.

“There's already time available so you wouldn't be wasting time, and you might not have packed enough food, or you don't like what the school is serving. but if you're really hungry, you would have another option. it's easier to focus on your work at school if your not hungry and focused on eating,” said Karsyn R., a student at AHS

Another student at airport high school Jayda J. says, “I believe that we should have open lunch because not every student likes the same type of food and we are in high school now and we should be responsible enough to leave campus and return back on time.”

To reiterate, high school students should be allowed to leave campus for lunch and return to school afterwards. This would help students relax and improve their mental health, give students more options for their lunch, and you could use the money spent on food to help fund other things. If you're a high school student, do you wish you had open lunch? Prove to your school district that you are responsible and you deserve to have open campus lunch.