Unlike many other schools in the area, Lake Shore allows its seniors to leave the building for off-campus lunches if they have an off-campus ID. With many Shorians living near the school, and many different fast food options nearby to choose from, students spend their off-campus lunch time doing a variety of different things and visiting many different places.

Some of the student favorites for fast food stops included McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s, but some students like to steer away from the common lunch stops. 

Senior Eric Dubiel said, “I like to go to Wingstop because they have good wings.”

With the nearest Wingstop being at 13 Mile Road and Gratiot, it only takes about seven minutes to get there, so this is a quick and easy place for Shorians to stop and get a bite for lunch if they don’t want the traditional fast food offered in Saint Clair Shores.

While some students like to branch out of the city for lunch, many Shorians stick to the nearby drive-throughs scattered throughout the Shores.

Samuel Maniaci, a senior, said, “I got Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Subway, Chipotle. I got Jet’s Pizza- I can keep going, but those are just to name a few.”

Though there are many fast-food restaurants to choose from, some Shorians prefer just to go relax in their car while they’re off-campus for lunch to get a little break from the other students and the school setting.

Macie Palacios, a senior, said, “Sometimes I don’t even go out to lunch, and I just like to sit in the car and not be in the school.”

Jania Robinson, a senior, said, “I’m either by myself or with my cousins, and if we leave with multiple people, we just sit and ride around and listen to music.”

Some students even like to stop at their house during their lunch time to have a nice home-cooked meal, or even just to have a calm and comfortable setting to relax and take a short break from school.

Keith Reeves, a senior, said, “I just go home and eat something at the house… eat, sit on my phone, pet my dogs, leave.”

While being able to leave for lunch is a privilege that Shorians are extremely grateful to have, it can be a quite pricey habit in the long run. The average fast food meal costs about $7-$11, so if a student goes out to lunch daily, they can rack up quite the bill at these drive-throughs.

Maniaci said, “I try to keep it like pretty low, but probably like fifty dollars a week- sixty dollars.”

With this ongoing tradition of the seniors being able to leave for off-campus lunch, some juniors and underclassmen argue that they should be allowed to leave during their lunchtime as well. Some seniors would have no problem with this as long as the younger students did not ruin the privilege for them, but other seniors think that the younger grades should have to wait just like they did.

Maniaci said, “I think it should be like an upperclassmen privilege, not only seniors.”

Whereas Dubiel said, “I don’t think juniors should be able to leave for off-campus lunch because I had to wait as a junior, and everybody else had to wait as a junior, so they can suck it up and wait too.”

In conclusion, Lake Shore High School’s tradition of allowing seniors to leave for off-campus lunch is cherished by many, with a variety of options for food or relaxation available.