Hello and welcome back to Senioritis! This semester, we are going to switch things up. Our lovely co-photo editor Sydney Allen is going to be joining me— Carmon— for a fun joint blog!

The premise is going to stay the same: looking at how our senior year has changed due to COVID-19, but the format will change. We’re going to debate events from throughout the semester, from traditions to pop culture moments to our experiences at STA. Due to COVID-19, we have been eating lunch in advisory this semester, and Sydney and I will be disputing our experiences. We hope you enjoy! 

Carmon, pro-advisory lunch: 

Let me just start by saying that I miss having lunch with my friends so much. Last year, the highlight of my day was going to an open room during lunch and playing card games to avoid the chaos of the lunch room. But I have also loved the opportunity that I have had this year to have lunch with my advisory. 

Every day, I head down to the basement of Donnelly, grab my face shield from my locker and settle into my desk at the back of my advisory classroom to watch an exciting episode of “MasterChef Junior.” The other seniors and I get a little too invested in each episode, forming our own opinions about each contestant and cheering excitedly when — spoiler alert— Nathan beats Andrew in the season 3 finale. 

Over the past few months, I have grown closer to my advisory classmates. Sitting down to lunch with the same group of people every day forms a different type of bond than we have had in the past. While I have always enjoyed spending time with my advisory and really enjoyed our community days last year, I can genuinely say that we have become closer over the last year because of all of the time we have spent together. In a year with so much uncertainty, I have really valued having this opportunity for consistency during the school day. 

Sydney, anti-advisory lunch: 

I’d like to start off by saying that I do like my advisory. They are very nice people and I have nothing against them, but I miss eating lunch with my friends so much. Lunch last year used to be the best part of my day because my friends made me laugh so much and we used to play cards together — which I miss a lot. We would camp out in Finn’s room and just play cards for the entire time, or guess the names of dogs and cats from an adoption website. Shoutout to Mr. Catalie Portman. 

If I had to change anything about lunch, it would be that we get to be with our friends. I know that the seniors now get to have lunch together, but that is once a week and it’s limited to sign up. So if you don’t sign up in time, you may not get to sit with your friends. If I were planning lunch for STA students, I would have had them sign up for an open room at the beginning of the year and allow them to eat together, socially distanced, at tables. Then students would just stay in that room for the entire year, with their friends. 

As much fun as it is to watch “Gilmore Girls” in advisory while struggling to eat rice with my face shield on, I think the joy of being with my friends would cancel out the fact that we are in a pandemic. Just 40 blissful minutes of seeing the people that bring me joy would be amazing, and I really miss it.