It’s 10:10 on a Tuesday morning, and students have been let out into a free period. As soon as they step into the hallways, the rush begins. Students hustle through the corridors, trying to find a seat at one of the few places for them to sit. After the library and cafeteria fill up, students scramble to one of the student lounges. When all the seats have been filled, the remaining students either give up on getting their work done and head to their next class, or resign themselves to sitting on the hallway floor. 

Social distancing restrictions this year have led to students having a harder time finding a place to sit during free periods as the few areas designated for students fill up quickly, leaving many with no place to go. 

Sophomore Lucas Caldentey has often found himself in this situation. 

“Even in shorter passing periods, it’s hard to find any place to sit down and work before class. Usually I’ll just enter my next classroom a few minutes early and try to work there,” Lucas said. “In the longer passing periods, I sometimes find myself just wandering through the halls or standing around in the library or lounge, waiting for one of the people sitting there to leave.”

Sophomore Robert Groves had another space-related problem: finding a place to eat for lunch. 

“It’s a lot harder to just find a spot to sit during lunch, especially if you’re trying to do work at the same time. Early in the year, I tried to eat in the hallways or the lounges, where it was quiet and I could work, but soon we were told we weren’t allowed to do it. We are allowed to eat in the hallways now, but it’s not very convenient if you’re trying to do work at the same time.”

Lucas thinks that the main reason he is having these space problems is because of pandemic restrictions.

“There were a lot of things last year that made it easier for students to find a place to stay during free periods,” Lucas said. “Last year, even when we returned to in-person learning, there was still a solid number of students who were working from home, lowering the congestion. This year, we’re almost all back in person, but we still have the same pandemic rules, like needing to sit on a red dot, making it seem like there’s less room to work.”

In Lucas’s opinion, there is a clear way to help reduce the congestion in student areas.

“I think the most simple solution would be just creating more student designated spaces,” Lucas said. 

There may be ways to reduce this crowding in work or lunch areas, giving students more of a chance of finding their own spot to sit. But for now, students without a spot may still have to give up, find a seat on the floor and wait until the next free period to try again.