High schoolers need recess. A provided time to run around and take a much-needed break would be beneficial to the scholars who put immense time and effort into their work during the school day.

To function at maximum capacity, RHS students need to have adequate time every day to frolic through the fields with their arms flailing, picking up dandelions and making wishes for another wind storm to cancel school again.

Students who do not wish to participate in the playground festivities have nothing to fear, as foldable mats stashed in the closets would provide sufficient comfort for those tired students who don’t have the energy to play Manhunt with their friends and are seeking that midday nap.

These newly introduced power-napping mechanisms will provide a quick boost of alertness while mitigating the onset of sleep inertia, as described by the National Sleep Foundation, and send rejuvenated students to sixth period to close out the day on a positive note.

RHS and Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) HS are tied for the shortest lunch period in MCPS clocking in at a short 40 minutes, and both notably don’t have an open lunch either. This confines students to the building, where no well-known forms of mid-day stress relief are available.

Beneden, a health care and health assessment organization, found that even just fifteen minutes of fresh air in a different environment can help to relieve student stress.

Whether it be an actual recess, a free period, open lunch or just a stress-relief option within the school, there needs to be somewhere to go or something to do mid-day to escape the relentless pressures of school.

In 2016, Walt Whitman HS reintroduced a program in which dogs of all sorts visit students once or twice a month to be played with. This experiment proved successful enough for parents to vie for its permanent return. This year, following a multitude of horrific events taking place at Whitman, puppies are available for play every Friday at lunch in the gym.

Students spend 375 minutes in school each day, working 335 of them. After working for what feels like an eternity, they go home only to find a tower of homework that needs to be completed before the next morning, preventing them from going to bed. With the rigorous courses Rockville offers, some serious downtime is necessary.

Besides B-CC HS, every other public high school in Montgomery County has less time dedicated to academics than Rockville.

This makes it even more essential to have some form of a break to allow students to re-group from all the trials and tribulations that come with fulfilling the necessary criteria for homework, extracurriculars and ultimately graduation.

It may be as simple a solution as allowing dedicated time for us to play with friends as we once did as elementary schoolers. Open the fields, we’ve got frolicking to do.