Mmmmmm.... Lunch

Mmmmm... Lunch

By Harmony Beck

Everyone’s favorite class of the day is lunch, and when that first or second lunch bell rings the sprits of high school students are lifted. When entering the Canyon Room the mission of each student is the same. First go to your regular lunch table, gather your lunch for the day, and last catch up with your favorite friends. For most PCHS kids their lunch is pretty regular, and variety is not always present. Everyone sticks to their own table, and if table stealing occurs conflict will erupt. Despite the size of our Bailey school it is full of labels and cliques. Some students find themselves using the derogatory label dirt kid more excessively. Lunch is a crucial part of a high school student’s day and perfection is necessary.

At Platte Canyon the school has its own cliques, but that doesn’t prevent students from having conversations. Most of the time the jocks talk to the popular girls and the speech kids talk to the nerds, but sometimes kids just talk to each other despite cliques. In school variety creates a more diverse and interesting environment, but at the end of the day each student wants to know which group they belong to. When at lunch there are students that are floaters because throughout the period they will sit at five tables all throughout lunch. These students are rare because having the satisfaction of a constant table is the satisfaction that students always want.

Labels are a big part of high school. At least since the fifties labels have been common through high school. Popular labels are jock, nerd, geek, prep, goth, emo, gangsta, wangsta, redneck, skater, and recently at PCHS the label dirt kid has become a common amongst the students. Oddly enough labels have nothing to do with a person or their morals, beliefs and personality. Usually labels are based on the person’s income, clothing, and residence. People can’t affect how much money their parents make, the clothes they can afford, or the location of their house. Labels just make students fight against them or accept them. Many students accept their labels in high school because by then they have an idea of who they are. Usually labels focus on how the person talks, GPA, music preference, attitude towards life, and goals. When surveying the lunch room students use the basic labels to name cliques, since our school is small. Labels like preppy girls, cool kids, jocks, speech kids, loners, and wierdos are mentioned. While talking to each table at the lunch room the label they gave themselves was often different from the label other tables gave them. Some tables were being labeled as the smart kids or weirdos and calling themselves the cool kids. Other tables were labeling themselves as the nice table, but other tables labeled them as the table with no friends. Obviously labels are only an opinion and there is no correct label for someone. PCHS students have come up with new labels because some of the cliques with a majority of people get renamed. For example speech is a very popular activity and has about seventy members on the team. Most of the kids on speech are friends, so when they hang out in a big group they are labeled the “speech kids”. This label is not as cruel as another label that has lately grown popular in Platte Canyon . The label “dirt kid” is heard all throughout the halls of the high school when describing a student with low income suggesting that they can’t afford a shower. This seems like the middle class students are trying to segregate themselves from the lower class students. Maybe that is what labeling is all about.

All most every high school student at Plate Canyon would say that the lunch to be at is second lunch. First lunch is full of freshmen and sophomores and second lunch is upperclassmen. The hubbub about second lunch is that the upperclassmen are mature and easy to get along with. Some students have changed their schedule to get the lunch with their friends. As long as the students have lunch with their friends then the canyon room would be calm. Maybe when the total number of students decreases there will be one lunch. Then the students would have to be integrated and learn to peacefully go through school.

High school can be a scary environment and for some students their cliques are a sage haven. Although high school should be about meeting new people and have more than one type of friends. The labels at PCHS are hurtful and they are probably going to have long term affects. Variety at Platte Canyon is slim and it could hopefully grow over time. As for now the canyon room will continue to have its labels and cliques.