More Than Just a Place to Eat

By Ashley Becker

During school hours the cafeteria is where most students go to eat a mediocre lunch, but after the last bell of the day rings it turns into a multitude of things. The cafeteria is more then just a place where I eat school lunch, it is a sanctuary.

It’s where I go to get away from people in between theatre and all my other extra curricular activities because my cell phone loses service. I can’t drive yet and neither can many of my friends, so we choose to stay warm in the cafeteria instead of braving the harsh Minnesota winters to walk some place that would be more interesting.

It’s where I stay and vent to close friends when I’m having a bad day and where I listen to the trials of their day. Many heated debates have gone on in that cafeteria that wouldn’t have happened if we were out somewhere else because the average student doesn’t stay at school for over fourteen hours a day.

We go there when we don’t want to go home, because hanging out at school bored with friends is more appealing then going home to our families. You probably think I’m crazy for spending so much time at school but where else can a teenager go to stay out of trouble, do whatever you want and not have to pay to stay there?