Encouraging individual and healthy snacks, the Parkway food policy frowns upon the sharing of food with other students and tries to steer students towards healthy, contamination-free food options in order to avoid possibly life threatening allergic reactions. Despite this stance, West High has opened the door to a prospective student-run coffee shop, in a survey complete with a smiley face.
A coffee shop in of itself isn’t a bad idea; many students would welcome the option of getting their coffee fix right here in school, in addition to the valuable business experience it would give to students who want to work at it. We’re in high school—we are cognizant enough to decide what we want to put in our bodies, and we can be in charge of our own nutrition.
However, the impression that Parkway has given students is that they want to watch over us and keep us away from potential health hazards. So the question must be asked, how much of a role do district and building administrators truly want to play in our lifestyle habits? Do they want to give us the freedom to consume copious amounts of sugar and caffeine of our own free will, or do they want to protect us in a bubble of disinfectant wipes and foodless parties?
It seems that the policy, with its ambiguous wording and general denunciations of food in the school setting, totally goes against the freedom that West High is considering giving us, going so far to ask if we would like our coffee delivered to us and if the shop should be open for business at all hours of the school day. The district and the building are sending two different messages to their students and whether we get a coffee shop or not, the double standard must be eliminated.
We would happily take a coffee shop in West High for many reasons, however we cannot help but question the overarching goals of Parkway and this building. For Folger’s or for Lysol, administrators must decide which they want to promote and let us have it.
![Within the U.S., the busiest shopping period of the year is Cyber Week, the time from Thanksgiving through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, shoppers spent $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, which is a 7.3% year-over-year increase from 2023. “When I was younger, I would always be out with my mom getting Christmas gifts or just shopping in general. Now, as she has gotten older, I've noticed [that almost] every day, I'll open the front door and there's three packages that my mom has ordered. Part of that is she just doesn't always have the time to go to a store for 30 minutes to an hour, but the other part is when she gets bored, she has easy access to [shopping],” junior Grace Garetson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DSC_0249.JPG-1200x801.jpg)
![Senior Sally Peters stands in the history hallway, contemplating her choices in the 2024 United States and Missouri elections on Nov. 5. As a member of Diplomacy Club, Peters has discussed key candidates and issues in contemporary American politics. “[As students], we're starting to become adults. We're realizing how much the policies that are enforced and the laws that make it through the House and Senate are starting to affect us. [Opportunities such as] AP [U.S.Government] and Diplomacy Club [make elections feel] a lot more real,” Diplomacy Club vice president and senior Nidhisha Pejathaya said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Flag-1-1.png)
![Mounting school pressure can leave many students overworked and overstressed. Schools must give students the necessary resources to help assuage student mental health issues and prevent the development of serious crises. “The biggest thing [schools] can do [to protect student mental health] is offer more time [to do work], like a study hall, or offer more support from teachers so that students don't feel stressed out and can get help in areas that they need,” senior Bhavya Gupta said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/unnamed-4.jpg)
![Like many students, sophomore Medina Nanic experiences pressure to do well in school. Through continuous success and achievements, West has developed a high academic standard for students. “Because we’re seen as one [of] the better schools, we have higher standards than the [schools] who aren’t ranked as high. There’s a lot of pressure on students to do [well] and live up to those standards,” Nanic said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DSC_0029-2-1200x800.jpg)
![In the 1950s, the first recorded spikes in global temperatures were recorded, and ever since, Earth has been in the midst of a disastrous climate crisis, as rising temperatures wreak havoc on susceptible regions and destroy animal habitats worldwide. Junior Nidhi Pejathaya helped found West’s Sustainability Council to create a space where students can educate themselves about climate change and do their part to preserve the environment. “When you're going out of your way to recycle [or] reuse your clothes to save water, you're saving people. You're saving adults, you're saving families, you're saving children. You're saving a whole generation. Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it's not happening,” Pejathaya said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/new-editorial-feature-1200x800.jpg)
![For the past three years, Parkway has administered high school finals after winter break, a practice that proves to be detrimental to the success as well as the mental health of students. With finals after break appearing to do more harm than good, the question of what changes can be made arises time and time again. “The pressure for finals is difficult, and to have that [pressure for] a few weeks because you're on [a] break can make you generally sad. It's a bummer in general. I wish [finals] were before break, so we [could] have a break to sleep, celebrate and not study. Everyone I've talked to about it is like 'yeah, finals sucks,' and I wish that wasn't a thing,” junior Meadow Kostial said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/decembereditorial-1200x963.jpg)
