Over the years students often wondered why seniors are the only ones allowed to go off campus for lunch.

We believe juniors should have the opportunity to prove how, respectful, trustworthy, and mature they can be if they are also given this privilege.

Juniors, who are typically 16 or 17 years old, are soon going to be adults and should have the opportunity to prove that they’re able to handle this responsibility. Not only are they about to be adults, but they’re about to enter the real world by themselves. They can benefit from their time to experience some independence to practice being responsible before they graduate from Akins.

We believe the Austin ISD school board should update its policies to allow juniors to go off campus for lunch. To make this work we suggest the district should have some requirements to only allow students with good grades, who own a car, and have good attendance in school. We want this privilege of going off campus to only those who have been amazing and excellent in their classes. We believe this privilege will encourage students to work harder and learn to be more responsible.

This is also a good idea for the campus administrators this would allow the cafeteria to become less crowded, run faster and more efficient. It would relieve pressure on the cafeteria workers by having fewer people to feed and not run out of food. It would be a good idea for the administrators because they would have fewer people to watch over in the cafeteria. They would also be helping students by giving us examples of how the real world operates.

Principal Tina Salazar has said that certain responsibilities come with privileges like off-campus lunch. As students, we understand that there are dangers with students driving fast and being irresponsible when they are off campus. All of these issues can cause concerns with letting juniors off campus.

Salazar said that some years back there was a bad car crash and a student passed away, causing district officials to decided to only let seniors off campus at lunch. 

It’s unfortunate that this incident happened but we believe we should be given a second chance to show we are capable of acting responsible while we are off campus. Let us prove ourselves to be responsible and we will rise to the occasion.