Masuk Free Press

Everyone has had unfortunate hallway experiences. Whether it’s colliding with a group of students who have decided to fan out across the entire width of B hall, or making the difficult turn into a crowded intersection, the hallway is fraught with perils.

All of this is not leading up to some overdone punchline that the reason for this inability to walk in the hallway is because those darn kids are always on their phones these days. No, this is me sending out a plea to the greater Masuk population: please walk normally in the hallway.

Strolling the hallways is not supposed to be something that we do for fun. We traverse through the corridors of this fine establishment because it is a necessity. It is something to be done as efficiently as possible. When walking in the hallway, the goal is to get to the cafe before the traffic hits or to make it from one end of the school to the other. We only have five minutes of passing time. It’s not worth the reprimand of being late to wait for someone to keep moving. 

“My worst hallway experience is trying to get to my history class in E hall when coming from J hall,” said junior Lindsey Merriman. “The shape of that intersection seems to be so hard for people to navigate, and I feel like I’m going to run into someone every single time. Plus it often adds a level of stress since before my history class I’m usually on the opposite side of the building. I’m usually running a little late.”

Matters are only made worse at the end of the day. The parking lot gets very chaotic very quickly. The best thing to do when the bell rings at two PM is to locate the closest exit and get there as fast as humanly possible. This is made more difficult when the two people in front of you stop moving, and then turn around to walk directly into you. No attempt at a U-turn made, they will try to barrel into you as if they took a wrong turn in this school that we have been attending since September.

“I actually get so mad when I’m walking and people stop in front of me,” said junior Samantha Davoren. “Like, I actually have places to be and things to do.”

Absolutely no respect is had for “hallway culture” — Because that is truly what it is. 

At Masuk, we have formed mini-cultures as students that are sacred. There is bathroom line culture, in which vapers will let you use a stall when you are clearly there to use the bathroom as it was intended to be used. There is door holding culture, in which people will hold the STEM door open for you in the morning, even if you are still climbing the stairs when they get to the door. There is homework culture, where everyone collectively agrees to not bring up homework if it is not directly asked about by a teacher, or where homework is even shared amongst students. It is clear that certain cultures at Masuk are respected. So why is hallway culture not among these?

“My worst hallway experience was when I had the same person knock into me twice because they kept backing up as if I wasn’t standing right there,” said Davoren. “I almost got knocked into a pillar.”

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence.

“My worst hallway experience was after a school assembly when getting dismissed for the buses,” said senior Melissa Mecatl. “Everyone was in the main lobby. While walking to the main doors, I got pushed from behind and almost fell if it weren’t for my friend next to me. This just shows how some people just don’t take the space and consideration of others in the hallways. Especially when it is crowded.”

This behavior has passed the point from ridiculous to blatantly rude. If I am the only person walking on the right side of the hallway, pressing my shoulder to the wall to avoid the onslaught of people rushing towards me, I should not still get rammed into by a freshman. And I should definitely not hear that freshman say, “wow, she was angry,” after the fact.

So this is me imploring you, Masuk High School. Do better. Not just for yourselves, because evidently that is not enough. But for the greater good of this school’s community.