On the first day of their high school career, many freshmen may be concerned with how to handle their first high school lunch hour. With hundreds of students older than them having already marked their territory in the lunchroom, it could cause some freshmen stress. They are left stranded among the sea of upperclassmen simply trying to figure out the social hierarchy many call ‘lunch’.

Donavan Washington, freshman, said he was able to figure out who to sit with after learning his friends’ lunch period.

“[It was stressful] sometimes because it’d be hard to find your friends because there are so many people at lunch,” Washington said. “It’s a lot different than middle school [and is] kind of stressful sometimes because you don’t want to sit alone.”

For Annie Murphy, freshman, her first lunch at high school was not stressful.

“I got lucky; I had a friend in my fourth hour and we were in the same friend group in middle school so we go together from our fourth hour and found other friends and eventually made a group to sit with,” Murphy said.

Murphy said it was challenging at first to find other friends to sit with at lunch. At first they sat with about six people, but after making new friends they ended up sitting with 15-20 girls.

Washington said students should be open to others at lunch because they might turn out to be their best friend. Washington and Murphy both gave the advice of being welcoming to others at lunch because everyone deserves a friend in the cafeteria.