Lindenhurst High School has been around for many years so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the students and faculty would want to have some changes done with the school. Many people believe that our school needs to alter certain areas to make it either safer or more interesting. This article will not only talk about many of the changes the high school students would like but also explain why some changes are inaccessible.

The students of Lindenhurst High School spoke up and wanted to let everyone know what they want. After interviewing many of the high school students, it seems we all want the same thing. Many of them spoke about the problems they’ve seen throughout the school as well as talked about things they seemed to want to add and change. One major problem that seems to bother many of the students here is the lack of websites. The school seemed to have gone overboard with our safety by blocking many of the websites that we could use for projects. Tom McCarthy, a senior in the school stated that “They should allow Internet access to more sites because it’s hard to research something if half the websites you click on, you can’t access.” This hasn’t been the only student who has talked about this problem. Multiple people have talked about how ridiculous the blocked websites have become. Even Wikipedia, a well-known and commonly used website had been blocked by our school. However, what some students may not know is that our school does have databases that can help us with our research.

Another well-discussed topic is about our school having an open campus. Then it split off into having an open campus for all or just for seniors. A senior by the name of Jessica Graves said, “The School should add open campus for senior students. How are we expected to be launched into adulthood moving out, moving to college and also learning to make good decisions for yourself if we’re treated like freshmen.” She then goes on to explain, “The reason young adults have such a hard time adjusting to adulthood is that they are treated like children until the day they graduate. That out of nowhere, adulthood responsibility and privilege hit us like a brick. It’s only fair to treat us with a little respect by treating us like the adults we are expected to be, not like the children you fear we will act like.” Many agree with her as well. They all believe that it would be better for our school to become an open campus. However, the idea of an open campus does not seem to fly well with many of the teachers and advisors. If you’d like to know more about having an open campus, than please look up our article called “Should We Open Our Doors To An Open Campus?”, written by our editor Patrycia Chrzanowska.

Another common topic that surfaced was not only the cafeteria food but the vending machines as well. Although the cafeteria has changed some food to healthier options, it still is a topic students want to change.  Many have complained stating that the food was way too expensive and that it wasn’t worth the money. They wish for a better menu to choose from as well as better quality food. Students seem to also want different snacks in the vending machine. Many feel as if the snacks need to be updated. The school cares for our health and we all understand that, yet students should be able to have a decent snack. One student who chooses to be anonymous, “I suggest keeping the popular items that are in them. Change the least popular ones for better. Maybe have some people vote for their favorite snacks so you can get an idea.” This could be helpful in many ways and keep both the students and staff happy. The students get their favorite snack, and the staff can still monitor our health by keeping some of the healthier snacks.

After having a meeting with Mrs. Flannelly, I have found out that she is actually trying to fix some of the problems we are having. When speaking with her, she has told me that she wanted to try and fix the school restrictions. It may take some time, but she believes that it will be well worth the wait. She has even stated that “I believe that the restrictions to some of the websites are ridiculous. I plan on meeting up with some people to talk about what we could do to change it.” Not only will we have more access to websites, but we will still have harmful websites blocked. Our safety will still be protected, but we will be able to work on more school work in school instead of at home. Sadly, when I brought up the topic of an open campus, she said that it was very unlikely for that to happen. The Lindenhurst High School isn’t an open campus because of an unfortunate death many years ago. The school decided to eliminate open campus to ensure the student’s safety would always be protected.

While these ideas could be looked into and maybe improved, many of the students in our beloved school can only say positive things. They may not admit it, but this place will always have a place in their hearts. After all, the moments in high school may be temporary but the memories will last forever.