Driving to Panera Bread, Vibe Well or Fenton House for lunch seems like a dream to Fenton High students. In reality, having an open campus would make much sense and be very beneficial to all. It would allow students to meet their dietary and monetary needs in a more specific way, give them a much-needed brain break, and teach them lessons they can apply to their futures. 

First and foremost, student’s health should be a top priority. They need to be able to meet their own dietary needs, whether that’s dealing with allergies, or making the choice to be vegetarian or vegan. According to Food Allergy Research & Education, an estimated 5.6 million children under age 18 have food allergies. Although the cafeteria offers some food items for these students, they would have many more options available to them if there was an open campus, in which case they could choose from any one of Fenton’s restaurants.

Taking some stress off of parents comes another benefit of open campus lunch. With the ability to leave, students who live near Fenton High could go home and get lunch. This means saving time packing a lunch, or saving money that would be spent at the snack bar or hot lunch. They would be able to take advantage of prepackaged food at home, leftovers from the night before, or other methods to save money. 

Today more than ever, high school students are placed under large amounts of stress, with very little extra time to deal with it. According to PSGD.org, students should have a kinesthetic brain break every 25-30 minutes. Even including passing times, students’ brains do not receive enough breaks often enough to be operating at their highest potential. An open campus lunch would allow students to leave school, change the scenery for a bit, and come back refocused. 

Perhaps most importantly: having an open campus allows students to learn and apply lessons that they’ll use for the rest of their lives. They will have the opportunity to prove themselves capable of handling responsibility given to them, as well as how to time manage, how to budget and how to make healthy lifestyle choices. 

Even though one could argue that students may abuse the privilege of open campus, not all students should be punished by not having it at all. Some students have specific dietary needs that need to be met, and maybe some would just like to go home and eat something out of the refrigerator. Students work hard and need a midday break, especially one that can teach them valuable lessons.