If you have attended Conestoga High School for more than a year you would know that on really nice days you are allowed to eat outside during lunch. However, more than 80% of the time the sun is out and it's very nice outside, so why can't we go outside anytime we want during lunch?

I believe that this is for security reasons, you do have to buzz in to get into the school, and there must be a sort of supervision needed for when you do go outside. A solution to this dilemma would be a longer lunch time, of maybe 10 minutes, so you could have 5 minutes to walk outside to a picnic spot, and 5 minutes to get back. A teacher, supervisor, or anyone willing would walk with the group and eat lunch with them.

The idea is that by letting kids go outside and eating lunch in the open with sunlight and fresh air, it will boost the morale and therefore determination to learn in class. It would also help release stress by lowering cortisol levels. This would maybe only happen once a week and only students who want to go outside would go outside.

We would have students sign a form or put their name on a list of who wants to go outside and who doesn't, and it would be handled bi-weekly so you could watch weather updates and decide if you want to or not. Or you could just announce at lunch time that you have the option to go out and students could leave with you if they wanted to. The picnic spots would be in front of the school or maybe by the soccer field.

This wouldn't be an open campus situation, but it would introduce a deeper level of trust between teachers, workers, and students. I think the benefits outweigh the cons and it wouldn't take much effort to improve the lunch time of most students.