By Emmy Hansen

Unlike years prior, this year, students at Memorial were not allowed to have lunch in the Gym Lobby. Personally, this upset me, as my friends and I enjoyed lunch in the Gym Lobby almost everyday last year. Now, we eat in the new extension of the Commons. Although this extension is nice, because it is new, nothing can surpass the bright and open concept of the Gym Lobby. I went around the school and collected opinions from students; here’s what they think.

“I think we should be able to have lunch in the Gym Lobby,” said Helen Muehlenkamp. 

“It is important to be able to change our surroundings while we’re eating,” she said, expressing that eating in the Gym Lobby allows us to have a change of scenery. Helen also mentioned  eating at, “one of those beautiful circular tables,” are in very limited supply in the Commons. 

Helen discussed the view of the outdoors you can get through the large windows in the Gym Lobby. She said, “You can see outside and it’s just really beautiful.” 

Getting the opportunity to eat lunch in the Gym Lobby allows you to see some natural light. When you are stuck inside school all day, this can be a great way to give yourself a mental break from school and get some Vitamin D.

Next, I interviewed Claire Kim. Claire says, I’m annoyed by it. I think the lobby is a very nice space and I definitely enjoyed it last year” because Claire took advantage of the space along with me last year. She also expressed some aggravation on the topic, “and having the limited space now is very frustrating.” She feels this way because now that the Gym Lobby is closed, there is less space to eat. The Gym Lobby offered a decompressing time with friends to enjoy your lunch in a different space than your everyday classes, or the cafeteria we walk through everyday. 

Then, I interviewed Isabelle Odegard. She said she feels neutral on the topic because she didn’t eat in the Gym Lobby last year. However, Isabelle also said, “but it seemed like the lunchroom was less packed last year so I think it was probably better when we had it before.” Isabelle expresses, although not having much of an opinion on the issue, she still leans more towards wanting the Gym Lobby back because it helps with the congestion in the cafeteria. 

Finally, my opinion on this topic is that we should have the opportunity to eat lunch in the Gym Lobby again. It provides a nice and relatively clean lunch space for everyone to use. It is also open during other times of the day if you are available to use it. It’s important to get this new rule switched so students can use this lightly used, and new space. I’m wondering what the point of making this new addition was if it can’t be effectively used by students.

In conclusion, it seems to me that students around Memorial High School, and I, are agitated and disappointed by the decision to not allow students to have lunch in the Gym Lobby. This tells me, and hopefully the ones who made this decision, that lunch in the Gym Lobby should be brought back.