The beginning of the end: juniors take over the Senior Cafe

Juniors enjoying some extra space in the Senior Cafe. photo by Margarita Forbes

by Michaela Zelandi

With the 2015 seniors of Woburn Memorial High School saying their final goodbyes to their schooling days here, the current juniors are now consequently rising to the top of the food chain.  After years of being the underclassmen, the moment that we thought was so distant has now finally arrived.  With this new social order in place, juniors are now taking on some pretty basic senior responsibilities.

• One of the most coveted of senior perks is the senior café.  A small staircase above the rest of the lunchroom, the senior café is meant to demonstrate the “superiority” of the seniors.  By moving up to the senior café, the 2016 seniors are able to just get a little taste of advantages of being seniors.  Let’s take a look at all the benefits of the senior café, shall we?
•  The seats in the senior café are different from the rest of the lunchroom, which is quite the blessing.  The seats in the regular café are tiny and stiff, making seating on the seats an experience far from enjoyable.  Not to mention the seats don’t even have a back! However, the senior café holds nothing but comfy seats with a backrest; lunch becomes a more enjoyable experience.
•  Not only are the seats comfy, but the senior café also has a surplus of them.  While students in the regular lunch room are forced to wander aimlessly in the pursuit of a rare orange chair, the seniors have absolutely no problem adding one more friend to their lunch table by simply pulling up an easily accessible seat.  The more the merrier!
•  The fact that the tables can be moved without a problem also allows friends to sit with more people.  Whereas the regular lunch room is limited to 8-12 to a table maximum, the students in the senior café can as many tables and chairs together as they want.
• When one walks up the staircase to the senior café and takes a seat, there’s a small feeling of pride.  It shows that one has made it to the top, has survived three years and is on the home stretch.  The senior café provides a sense of accomplishment when one finally makes it there. 
• The induction into the senior café is when juniors realize that the end is in sight, a scary moment, but one that awakens students to get going on their college search. 

Yes, the senior café is quite the location destination, but it is not without its faults as well. 

• The senior café is small when compared to the whole of the lunchroom and exclusively meant for seniors.  This means seniors are forced to face those in their grade; a potentially awkward experience. However, this can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation.
•    One final drawback about the senior café is that in order to go up for seconds and buy another bag of chips or goldfish, everyone in the lunchroom will see you walking down from the senior café.  Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but to some this may be a big deal.

Seniors of 2016, it’s the beginning of the end for us.