By Rakhi Kundra

It’s time for lunch!  You drop your bag in the common room, hopping over bags as you make your way out.  You stop to socialize with your friends, and then continue on your way.  After you eat, you go back to the common room to hang out until the period ends.

The Common Room is like a Middle School Playroom.  It is where middle schoolers spend most of their time.  According to Mr. Ashburn, “The common room is primarily used by 8^th graders, although it’s not just an 8^th grade room”.

The Common Room is used as a storage and social facility by middle schoolers.  It’s a great place to store your things, and a great place to hang out with friends.  8^th grader Jason Katz said, “I believe that in most cases, people use the common room to hang out, do work, and store their belongings. Even if they aren’t middle schoolers, people come in there.”

Although The Common Room is a fantastic place to store belongings and to hang out, there are rules.  And if these rules are broken, there are penalties.  Some of these rules are 1) No Food in the Common Room, 2) No sitting on the tables, 3) No storage of belongings overnight.

One of the biggest penalties faced by middle schoolers is a mild lunch detention when they leave belongings in the common room overnight.  All belongings that are left behind are obviously saved, but students have to serve 15 minutes of their lunchtime to earn them back.

Another issue is the neatness of the common room.  Students tend to leave their things lying on the floor; they tend to leave food in the common room as well.  Not only is this a fire hazard, it is disgusting.  Things such as ant infestations and sticky, dirty floors are results of leaving food in the common room.

Mr. Ashburn said “It has been a challenge because some groups have been much better at keeping the room better then others.  People would leave food lying around.”

I asked 8^th grader Nathaniel Charendoff his opinion on this matter, and he responded saying “I think Mr. Ashburn and others want students to be more responsible for their belongings. He also wants to common room to be kept clean.  It is obvious that to do our work we need our things, and the school doesn’t want the image of students who don’t do their work”.

Although we don’t always show it, middle school students actually do care about the state of the common room.  The common room really does help us middle schoolers out.