Should Eastside Have a Break-Room?
Many schools around the country provide a break-room or lounge area for their students. While the library does have some comfortable couches, it still doesn’t quite fit the definition of a lounge. A true lounge would allow students a place to take their mind off of their classes.
Would EHS students benefit from having a break-room on campus? We decided to ask them.
Junior Karina Arganaraz is one student who’d be pleased by the addition. “I would have time to calm down and it will provide me with a safe place at school,” she says.
The break-room would have been especially appreciated last week. “I was having a bad day,” Karina explains. “It involved crying during class and then leaving to cry in the bathroom stall for 15 minutes. I felt too sad to go back to class, so I ended up not going back.” A break-room could have given Karina a place to work through those emotions.
Karin’s not the only one feeling stressed at school. Sometimes, students just need to take 10 minutes in a quiet and safe environment. A break-room could provide that.
But, then again, students might just take advantage of the space.
“I’m unsure about having a student break-room,” says junior Breland Mejia. “Some students would use the break room as an excuse to do inappropriate things like smoking, fighting, and selling.”
To avoid situations like that, teachers could theoretically sign passes that would allow students to spend a small portion of the period in the break-room.
Breland agrees that might help. “Kids who are going through stress can have time to relax and rejuvenate energy to move on with their classes,” he says.
Breland then went on to recount a time when he could have used the student break-room.
“One time during my freshman year, I was stressed by my class assignments that were due that same day,” he says. “I was mad at myself for not finishing my work, so I left and didn’t come back to class.”
Students who go through things in class or can’t handle their emotions tend to ditch their more difficult or stressful classes. A break-room could allow these students time to calm down and think straight, possibly minimizing the number of students who ditch.
Out of 119 responses to an Instagram poll, 83% of students believe that EHS should provide a break-room. Based on the poll, if the school provided a break-room, then a lot of students would benefit from it.
