Off-campus lunch privileges for seniors have returned to Lake Forest Academy for this year’s graduating class. Seniors will be allowed to leave campus during fourth, fifth and sixth periods  one day per week. This is an exciting development that seniors have been looking forward to all year.

Seniors, especially in the second semester, feel removed from being in high school. They are often caught in limbo between their current limited freedom and the freedom they will have in college. Off-campus lunch helps bridge this gap by giving students more responsibility. Developing skills in money and time management, decision-making and navigating real-world environments will help prepare students for the expectations of college. 

Off-campus lunch privileges can be suspended due to citizenship or academic issues, including having Ds, Fs or incompletes in students’grades on the most recent progress check. This will motivate them to work hard academically, which can be challenging for second-semester seniors. Additionally, failure to comply with the previously stated guidelines, such as returning to class late, can potentially remove off-campus lunch privileges for the entire class, which will hopefully prevent the abuse of this opportunity. 

Another benefit of off-campus lunch is creating more time for socialization and relaxation. Of course, this is available in the Student Center, but oftentimes students will do homework or go on their phones during their lunch period. This is less likely to happen if students are leaving campus to get food with their friends because they are choosing to engage with their peers.

An issue with off-campus lunch is the increased liability for the school. When students leave campus, the school cannot supervise them, which leaves students vulnerable to outside risk. However, many other high schools have granted off-campus lunch privileges to seniors for years, proving that potential risks are manageable. And the benefit of helping facilitate students’ transition from high school to college far outweighs any negatives. 

If the senior class can prove its responsibility, then it should be granted increased privileges. These can include leaving campus more than one day per week or finding a way to check in and out with the Dean’s Office digitally, which will make it significantly easier for students to get to and from school.

Unfortunately, the allotted periods do not comply with many students’ schedules. Unless someone has a double lunch period, they cannot realistically go off campus to get lunch and return in time in 45 minutes. A solution to this would be expanding the times to include the afternoon break. Without this change, many students will be excluded from off-campus lunch.