Fauzia Begum

21 April 2016

Ever since I have been attending Oakland High School since my freshman year and the years before me, off-campus lunch has been prohibited. As a new school year would pass by me, I did not mind. However, coming into senior year, I realize that it is unfair that my fellow seniors and I can not go outside during our lunch break for more healthier alternatives.

The lunch lines in the cafeteria are hectic. There are students just clustered together in bunches rather than a single line. There are some who cut the people in the front.

“It gets annoying when people are shoving you,” says senior Vern Chao. “Then there are those who cut you and you can’t really do anything because they’ll talk back to you.”

Seniors are working very hard to maintain a decent gpa while also applying for scholarships and colleges. All these things are stressors to them. When lunch time rolls around, they have to struggle getting food that is not even that good.

One time, I was eating a burger and when I ripped my bread in half, I found a small hair inside of it. Ever since then, I am too hesitant to eat school lunch.

Even though school lunch is not a delicacy we all crave, some don’t dare to defy by leaving campus in search of a meal somewhere else. Some of the reasons are because they don’t want to be marked tardy or worse, not be let inside the school upon their return to campus.

The school administration should take into consideration that seniors are very hard-working and mature. Off campus lunch needs to be a right they can enjoy because it gives them more freedom.