At Central Kitsap High School, students and staff are able to perform any appropriate song in front of the whole cafeteria during all lunches on Wednesdays. 

Students aren’t allowed to leave the cafeteria during lunch. While they have the option to sit in the library, they aren’t allowed to have food in there. If students want to eat lunch, they have to sit in the cafeteria where lunch monitors usually play pop music over the speakers. 

On Wednesdays, lunch monitors take suggestions from the students for karaoke songs and let them perform any song they want, as long as it’s school appropriate. 

Most students are eating, socializing, or simply don’t want to sing in front of their whole lunch. There’s the same ten students who like singing who usually perform every single week, and being that they’re in high school, they aren’t always the best at it. Karaoke isn’t meant to be good anyways, it’s supposed to be fun. 

However, I have to admit that some of the singing is really hard to endure but if students want food they are forced to listen to them because students can’t leave. 

Some students sit further down in the hallway, closer to the music hall and CTE building. From there, it’s harder to hear the karaoke and they can eat in peace. Unfortunately, the new building has tiny hallways and can only fit so many people eating there. School lunches are already full with too many students – the lack of seating has been an issue for years. There’s a few small tables lining the hall, but many students find themselves eating on the floor to avoid the cafeteria. 

The idea of karaoke at school could be good. Students who are done eating can go have fun for a bit with their friends, and karaoke is always a hit at school dances. The issue is that students eating at lunch simply don’t care.

There’s no good option to avoid listening to it, and staff spend lunch encouraging students to sing, without much luck. High school kids are mean and from my experiences they usually make fun of the people singing. 

The cafeteria can be a very overwhelming place, with loud noises coming from students enjoying their half hour break. Adding in the loud singing makes it more stressful to be there, and personally I don’t enjoy it. 

I love the idea behind Karaoke Wednesdays. I think they’d be a great addition to our school if they weren’t done in this way. Perhaps putting it on in another room would work better, or giving students another place to eat where they don’t have to listen to it. Maybe having an after school karaoke club would let the students who enjoy it have an opportunity to do their karaoke. Whatever the solution may be, a change should be made to help the already packed cafeteria be more enjoyable for everyone.