Imagine the bell rings and you have only a few minutes to find a seat in the cafeteria or in the PAC. You end up being just a few seconds late and all the seats are taken up. You have to stand for the whole 50 minute lunch period. My freshman year of high school my friends and I struggled to find a place where we could all sit and eat lunch together. The cafeteria was always packed and the PAC was also filled with its limited seating space. We often just ate standing up, which was very uncomfortable and not very convenient. Being able to go off campus for lunch would eliminate this problem be much more beneficial for a lot of the students here at Regis. I believe that all grade levels at Regis should be able to go off campus for lunch.

I have many friends that attend Arapahoe High School which has an open campus policy. Similar to us, they have a shopping center with lots of restaurants and a grocery store, within walking distance. This makes open campus a lot safer since kids aren’t driving in their cars. However, even with a bunch of restaurants walking distance away, driving is still a viable option. Even though the school might be concerned with kids driving off campus and getting in car accidents, the same risk is to be taken by the same kids who drive to school everyday.

Second, the school lunch here is pretty expensive unless you buy a meal plan at the beginning of the year. If a kid forgets to bring his lunch one day, he would much rather go off campus and get a cheaper, more convenient lunch. Also, it helps support local businesses which is always good for the community. Restaurants that get most of its business from high school kids will often make donations to the school as a thank you.

Lastly, learning to manage your time is a very important skill that many students in all grade levels lack and need to learn. Looking into it, almost half of all high school kids don’t know how to manage their time and could benefit by having to practice it everyday at lunch. With the right punishments set in place for being tardy, it could really teach kids this important skill.

Even though some people might say that kids will use it as an opportunity to skip class, I think that off campus lunch should be a privilege that is given to you and that can be taken away very easily. Right now at Regis, the punishment for a lot of things is a JUG. However, over time JUGs have lost their meaning. Most kids when they get a JUG only have to pick up trash for one lunch period. Some kids don’t worry about getting in trouble because of how ash the punishment is. Now think about if the punishment was to take away off campus privileges. I think that, that would be a lot more motivating for kids to stay out of trouble.

Evidence shows that about 46 percent of schools have an open campus, and that their open campus policy does not affect the number of kids that skip class. Having an open campus policy for lunch is a privilege, but it is a privilege that I think should be offered to all students at Regis. I believe that all grade levels at Regis should be allowed to go off campus for lunch.

With Covid this year the school made a decision that Juniors are allowed to go off campus. The school is handling this very well and I think that it shows that more kids other than just the Seniors are able to go off campus without problems.