Feel Good Friday is a quarterly event featuring a farmers market, music, and activities for students to enjoy, celebrating the end of the quarter and week. Students usually receive 10 extra minutes of lunch to spend time with friends and explore the activities. However, Friday’s one removed the extra time. An email sent out to teachers on Oct. 3 stated that while Feel Good Friday events would proceed, lunch would remain its regular length.
Shortly thereafter, students also received an announcement about the shortening on their Canvas homepage. “[Principal Loosekoot] didn’t want any of that to be gone, but just out of an abundance of caution, we decided to keep it a normal lunch,” Administrative Vice Principal Tina Smith said.
Many students have noticed an increase in fights on campus compared to previous years. These fights have disrupted students’ routines at school, with hall closures and frequent hall sweeps, and may be why Feel Good Friday was shortened.
Sophomore Avery Moeller found the cancellation frustrating because she viewed it as a collective punishment for the actions of a few students. “[The fights weren’t] everybody’s fault. So having [Feel Good Friday] taken away from everybody is kind of annoying and just frustrating,” Moeller said.
Some students don’t believe shortening the event prevents disruptions. “There’s just going to be increased tension. There’s less time to do things, and so more people are going to do things faster,” junior Gabriela Weiss said.
The fights, along with their impact on Feel Good Friday, have led to everyday annoyances. Students have noticed hallways being locked, making it more difficult to get around campus. “It’s annoying when they close Pride Hall because it’s harder for me to get to my class. And when they have the hall sweeps while we’re trying to go around [the closed halls],” Moeller said.
Despite the shortened lunch period, students still enjoyed a farmer’s market, career fair, bracelet making, free books, and more.
