4 FORUM
October 19, 2012
Cafeteria changes offer many benefits for school PREPVIEWS changes that will be brought to the cafeteria and food service at Rockhurst next year will be superb assets to the school. Though some downsides to the initiatives do exist, the changes deserve praise for the positives they will bring to the school in years to come. The current food system is as strong as it can be with the resources that are available to it; however, the current kitchen designed to feed a much smaller school population. An increase in the resources that go into Rockhurst’s food service is necessary to improve the quality of the school’s meal options. The new plan that is being proposed by the administration accomplishes this quite successfully. A key success of the new plan is the way in which it meets the dining needs of students. Though school lunch may, at day, in reality, it is becoming a central meal for many students. With the busy lives that many families lead, dinners that consist of an entire family sitting down together are, in many cases, rare. Thus, the school lunch is becoming an increasingly important part of a student’s day; it may be the only chance he has to sit down and have quality conversation and
interpersonal interaction. The new cafeteria and lunch schedule for this sort of interaction. A full 45 minute lunch period allows students who might have had to rush through a 25 minute lunch in the past to engage in better conversation with their peers as they enjoy a much needed break in their day. Additionally, youth of the current generation often have tastes in food—tastes honed by cantly more often than did teens of the past. The more varied the new food service will meet this need. The new lunch schedule will not have entire grades together in the lunchroom; this has positives and negatives. The inter-grade interaction that will be stimulated by this environhowever, if a student needs to meet with a classmate to discuss co-curricular matters, the new lunch format may make such a As an outside company will be handling all aspects of
For students, the early weeks of the school year are some of the busiest as preparations are undergone for the year ahead. For sophomores, juniors, and seniors, the annual Homecoming dance forces another item onto the growing to-do list: locate and ask a date to the dance. But don’t just ask; ask creatively. In today’s teen culture, there is an increasing pressure to ask a date to a dance in an elaborate and creative way. While such wild invitations are commendable, they should not be seen as an essential part of the high school dance experience. Students have a busy lives without taking the time to plan creative requests. It should not be an expectation that all dance invitations must extend beyond a simple “Will you go to the dance with me?” That is not to say such requests are bad.
Excessive gadgets dilute daily life For me, the typical school night consists of sitting in front of a laptop, constantly visiting Facebook, my two fantasy football teams, ESPN, and, in times of extreme boredom, Yahoo. Next to my planner I have my sively vibrating across my planner as new text messages are
Vanity Fair By: Van Schloegel Abram Hawkins
cafeteria work and food service, parents will miss out on some opportunities to get involved at Rockhurst. There is not an abundance of opportunities through which parent volunteers can interact with students, and removing the need for parents to volunteer in the lunchroom is a slight detraction from the already sparse number of chances. Additionally, the new plan may pose a threat to the success of student-run food services, such as NHS donuts and Justice services will be allowed to endure, they will likely receive less business as they face competition from daily breakfast options ing in the new cafeteria. However, these minor drawbacks are outweighed by further positives of the new system.
scenario that involves people in a dangerous position or an alteration of property. From car painting to crazier stunts, students must refrain from doing anything that could damage property. If Homecoming invitations are fun and creative without doing harm to people or property, then kudos to whoever does the asking. However, students should not put implementing a crazy Homecoming request over other, more important responsibilities. And students who have neither the time nor the resources to go over the top should not have to worry; a sign or a simple face-to-face request is enough to invite someone to a high school dance.
PREPVIEWS
to go over-the-top with Homecoming requests, then they ought to do so—as long as the requests do not come at the expense of other responsibilities or cause others harm. It is at the point of such potentially harmful Homecoming requests that a line must be drawn. Caution must be used in any
Technology overload
is an iPod Touch, which is logged into three email accounts; also, there is Facebook emitting a
Over-the-top requests Dance invites are fun, can go too far
PN
The plan’s inclusion of plates, silverware, and cups will help keep the school clear of waste and will also make the cafeteria more green by cutting down on the excessive amounts of trash that come with the current method of serving food. The new options in the cafeteria will also help students to the daily salad bar and consistent fruit and vegetable options, options in the way of nutritious foods. As student life grows increasingly busy, having a longer and more enjoyable lunch period will help cut down on stress in a student’s day. The chance to do homework at lunch will make the typical Rockhurst workload more manageable.
Rock Reports
D B+ A
Jeff City attendance
The Friday of the football game -
team faced one of the most challenging opponents of the season. While the the minimal attendance and participa-
Freshman mixer
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Four-day weekend
Nick Privitera
A huge number of Post-its Notes were plastered on this car for a dance request
beeping sound every time a notiAll the while, a Pandora playlist plays in the background... And from all this, I realize one key thing... we cannot escape the technology. This year, every student received his own Gmail account, opening several new possibilities within the classroom. With Moodle, NetClassroom and these new Gmail accounts, students can access a multitude of information online from their home, smart phones or at school. I can tweet or post on Facebook in a couple of seconds for all 767 “friends” of mine to see. However, I wonder if this unquestioning consumption of technology is always a good thing. I have not met at least 200 of my “friends” on Facephone, which has dramatically decreased my texting, I have realized the small amount of quality contact I have with my friends. We are so used to sending trivial texts, tweets, or Facebook messages to each other that we trick our minds into thinking we are communicating meaningfully with our friends when, in reality, we are not. Social media is only causing individuals to worry about what others think about them: how many friends one has, followers one can gain, or texts one can receive. But I am not sure society allows one to simply “sign out,” or unplug from social media. It is too important for my daily activities. What would I do on the weekend without my phone? What about homework help? The trivial demands of social media clutter up the the technology. What if we, instead of wasting our lives away online, spent this weekend or this next school week communicating without technology, actually planning homework at school? Think how stress-free our lives would be, even if it is just for one week. I challenge everyone to go this weekend without technology; maybe a life with limited technology could actually work.