24 | SLAS TIMES
Wildcats Prefer Staying in Their Classrooms During Lunch by Angela Chen
As of quarter four, secondary students are allowed to go outside for the last fifteen minutes of lunch. Previously, pandemic regulations required all students to stay inside their wildcat classrooms for the entirety of lunch.
Despite this newly gained freedom, most prefer staying in their classrooms during lunch to play video games or watch videos on their devices.
Before the pandemic, students, especially boys, used to go outdoors and play sports, such as soccer, basketball, and volleyball. Most girls tended to stay inside the school building to eat outside their block three classrooms, or hang out on the black sofas. There were absolutely no limits about having to be with students from your wildcat.
According to Principal Jamal Hill, the procedures were newly implemented on Monday, April 12th, 2021.
Students are now allowed to go outside after 12:15 p. m. They could choose to come back to the class again, but they would not be permitted to leave the class a second time. Students who go out are only allowed to go to the stage or track. If they have to use the bathroom, they would have to either get a pass from their Wildcat teachers or use the first-floor bathrooms.
In the author’ s Wildcat class, all students stay inside after lunch. In Mr. van West’ s 6th-grade Wildcat class, around 10 % of the students prefer going outside.
6th-grade student Poonam Sahoo said that going outside lets her hang out with her friends, get fresh air, and stretch. She says that she goes out every day to clear her mind after long classes.
8th-grader Myles Jacob Jin said,“ There’ s not much to do outside [ because ] we don’ t have much time.”
9th-grader Jade Seo said that it was not fun going outside, and there are not many things to do. She does not enjoy going out, and she would not go out by choice.