On average, students spend at least seven hours in school, going to class, walking in the halls, and going to lunch. And for some in extracurricular activities, they may spend even more time in school. With students spending an extensive amount of time in school, it’s no surprise that they will form their own opinions about it.

Restrictions on what students are able to do are part of the school system, and some students, like junior Flaubert Toulaboe, believe that there are very few problems with it.

“I don’t really have a problem with most restrictions except for not being able to play music on your phone,” Toulaboe said.

While some restrictions are built in place for protection, there are some that may not apply in other schools around the country. Some schools allow students to have access to their phones at all times, have an open lunch time, or wear hats. So if the students had a choice as to what they would like to change in school, several different opinions may form.

“I would like to be able to take naps in school,” freshman Mackenzie Gianacopolos said.

Some students, like Gianacopolos, want change as far as things to do or activities to participate in. But a majority of students aren’t focusing on change in the school system and the restrictions put in place. Students are focusing on changing the school lunches.

“They need to change the food at lunch,” sophomore Mason Wellbrock said. “It keeps getting worse all the time.”

Several other students also agree with Wellbrock; they want change in the school lunches. Sophomore Amiyah Gonzalez also agrees that the food needs to improve, and sophomore Jake Dechant would like to have ice cream again.

“They need to bring the ice cream machines back,” Dechant said.

Another change that students believe should be made is the size of school lunches. Some students believe that they aren’t given enough food to last for the day and into extra-curricular activities.

“Portions of food need to be larger,” sophomore Shane Berens said. “You never feel full when you’re done.”

Senior Jasmine Lawson also agrees that the lunch portions should be larger than what they are now.

“If you look around at many students’ trays you’ll see that students have more of a side dish than the main dish,” Lawson said. “The chicken nugget meal and the macaroni and little smokies meal we had the other day was as about as much food in a kid’s meal. My suggestions to change this would be a bigger serving of the main dish.”

Though the administration tries its hardest to make sure students are having a well-balanced, educational day, students still have the right to speak their mind about what changes could be made to better enhance their learning. Perhaps changes in the district might be made in the future to help keep students focused and productive throughout the day as well as answer the student body’s majority voice.

“I don’t think the school lunches are good because of the limitations imposed on us,” Sierra Eichman said.

15rarthur@usd489.com