As the bell rings at 11:44, signifying the start of lunch, students race out of their classroom and go one of two ways. Some charge towards the lunch lines and others hurry to find a table where they can eat. Some students fail in finding a place to sit and settle for the floor.
Sitting on the floor is becoming a trend at Carlmont, as there aren’t many other places to sit. Students are starting to resign themselves to the lack of lunch space.
“I mean, you just get used to it, so it’s not too bad. But sometimes it’s just best to sit wherever,” said Paul Fourment, a sophomore at Carlmont.
Sometimes students will sit down with different people just to have somewhere to sit. This makes some students uncomfortable, especially with COVID still being an issue.
“Generally, tables get taken, and people who are not in our general social bubble will sit down without asking,” said Jason Korn, a junior who sits in E hall for lunch.
The Carlmont administration has noticed students who haven’t found a place to sit, and they have thought about possible accommodations.
“We are trying to order more benches and picnic tables for our site,” said Grant Steunenberg, the vice principal of Carlmont.
Given the season, rain is preventing kids from sitting outside to eat their lunch. The administration is trying to make lunch safe and dry. But even with the new tents being added around campus, the Carlmont administration is worried.
“There are covered areas around campus. We are fortunate that we do have a lot of covered areas,” Steunenberg said. “We may have to utilize the gym if we need to. And we may have students use the indoor hallways. The problem with that is when people begin to ear indoors, and they are supposed to maintain six feet of distance when their masks are off. And that becomes extremely difficult for us to monitor, and so it’s going to be a common challenge, and we’re going to do the best we can.”
With the cold weather and rainy season coming, students will have difficulty finding a place to sit. They’re going to have to compromise on weather and space.
“As long as we don’t have to sit in a puddle, it’ll be fine,” said Korn.
