While it’s great that most seniors have privileges during their free periods, there should be more opportunities to engage in on-campus activities and opportunities.

Mainly, students who have and want to use their senior privileges are forced to leave campus after signing out. Our current schedule has many 40-minute long classes, which limits where a senior could actually go if they leave school; this can often lead to students rushing to get back in time for their next class.

In many ways, having the ability to leave campus and do as they please is very appealing for  seniors. But, I find it surprising there are few on campus opportunities for those with senior privileges. This is why I suggest the school offers access to the weight room and gym to students who have senior privileges.

Students often feel stress during the school day, and exercising is proven to clear the mind and help relieve stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Regular exercise can increase self-confidence, improve your mood, help you relax and lower symptoms of mild depression and anxiety…..All of these exercise benefits can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life.”

Daily access to the gym and weight room would be beneficial to both students and teachers, as students would be more motivated and in a better mental place during class time.

Setting this up would also be a relatively easy process for the administration, as all that would be needed would be a sign-in/out process for students and a teacher to supervise the  room. Of course, if students do not act safely or respectfully, they’d lose the privilege.

One might say that students shouldn’t be urged to stay on campus, but I am only proposing that access to the weight room and gym is made an option rather than something that is heavily pushed. Students still may do whatever they want; it’s just better for them to have more choices.

Plenty of students have wondered why the gym and weight room can’t be accessed during senior privileges, but if administration would like to get a clearer sense of how many seniors would like to utilize these spaces, a simple Google Form could do the trick to get various viewpoints on the matter. 

As senior Sam Salvi said, “[students] can do such things by themselves out of school if they sign out, could go to a gym or a park and do those activities. [Leaving campus] would just waste the students’ time…The back gym is always open and so is the weight room.”

On-campus opportunities to help students get some exercise, relieve stress and have fun would only be beneficial to the school and something that is simple and easy to get started on.