Many students look forward to lunch out; however, lunch out is only available for high school seniors. Westerville South High School has allowed seniors to have lunch out with their parents’ signed permission since the 1960s. 

With it being their last year in high school, seniors use lunch out to their fullest.

“I go out everyday,” said Senior Issac Brown.  It helps him by “forgetting about the stress school brings for the moment, getting to know his friends better as a new student, and relaxing.”  

Lunch at school has limited options. Senior Josh Birchem said, “He likes going out for lunch because he’s tired of eating school food and it’s always the same things.” 

During lunch at school, communication between friends can be an issue because of the loud, crowded atmosphere.  Students often find themselves repeating themselves to compensate for the noise.

Senior Margo Guerin said, “I enjoy going out for lunch because I like being with my friends without all the loudness or chaos of lunch.” 

Due to class scheduling and varying lunch periods, some seniors don’t get the option to have lunch with their friends.  Birchem makes the best of that time alone. 

 “I’m not bothered going out to lunch by myself. I see it as a time to relax and clear my mind as I get ready for football practice in the afternoon,” Birchem said.

Senior Michael Gyabeng said, “Most of the time when I go out for lunch I usually go with my friends Mariama and Zeynab.” 

Lunch out has helped some seniors with their time management skills, including planning out how much time it would take them to eat and drive back to school from wherever they’ve gone. 

Senior Monique Yeboah said, “My first day having lunch out got me marked tardy for the first time.” 

There are a variety of places that serve good food at reasonable prices that aren’t  too far from the South.

“When going out for lunch, I consider the price over anything else, the amount of time it will take to get there, how long it takes to get the food, and how long it takes to return to school,” said Senior Leanne Ngo. “My favorite place to go would be Chipotle since it is so close to Westerville South. Reason being is during weekdays it is typically a very small line so I do not have to worry about the time and simply it’s just my go to place for food when I’m hungry.”

Lunch out is a nice break from school and gives you many options for food. However, the only downside might be the cost.  If you need to budget and save your money, then perhaps eating school lunch for $3 isn’t such a bad option.