Twice a year, the school awards students who made the honor roll with a special academic lunch. Students can either make gold, silver or bronze. Gold students receive a catered lunch from various restaurants as well as a goodie bag. Silver students receive an ice cream sundae as well as a goodie bag. Bronze students only receive the goodie bag. In order to make honor roll, the average of all your classes has to be an 85 or above. Academic lunches are one of the things that students look forward to all year, but there are certain things about the academic lunches this year that bothered me.
A small part of me wishes that everyone who made honor roll would get the same reward. It is understandable how students who have higher grade point averages get a better award. However, it is incredibly frustrating when students say things like, “I’m too stupid to get gold so I’m stuck with silver.” It is not fair for students to say this around other students who worked hard to make the honor roll. That statement makes the silver and bronze students’ accomplishments seem worthless compared to the gold students and that is not a great feeling. I can understand a little bit where these students are coming from because it makes them feel better about not receiving gold honor roll. However, not many people are able to make honor roll, so the fact that some students are unappreciative of it is irritating.
Last year, the students who made gold honor roll would go to the church and have their catered lunch at the church. The administration made an executive decision to have students stop going to the church because of concerns about safety. Now, the students who make gold honor roll go to the multipurpose room and bring their food back to the lunchroom. Students have complained because when they had the catered lunch at the church, they were able to go back into the line and get seconds without notice. Students are not able to do this now because the volunteers take your ticket when you go receive your lunch so you’re not able to go back. And when the gold honor roll students bring their catered lunch back to the lunchroom, it is kind of an awkward experience for everyone else. When the students were able to go to the church and eat the catered food, it wasn’t in your face so it made it easier not feel as bad about not making gold honor roll. But this year there was an awkward navigation between gold students feeling bad because some of their friends could not be rewarded with the catered lunch, and also trying to enjoy their food.
I appreciate the academic lunches because I work hard to receive the grades that I get and it is nice to be rewarded. However, certain factors that come about from the academic lunches are aggravating. Students should be appreciative of whichever honor roll they get because not everyone makes the list.