The Outdoors at DAA

By Salam Batha, Staff Reporter, The Pawprint

I strongly believe that opening the outside area at DAA sooner in the next few years will solve many problems. For example, as there are limited seating spaces at lunch, the outside space will provide an additional area for students to resort to. 

If students don’t claim seating spaces as soon as lunch starts, they will face a long journey in search of empty spaces, not to mention that they are sharing lunch seats with half the population of highschool. 

In addition, opening the outside area sooner will also help students’ health. Studies by Stanford Health have shown that: “Playing in the sun builds vitamin D in the body, which means stronger bones and less likelihood of chronic diseases.” 

It is true that the weather isn’t the best at the moment, people could suffer from heat Cramps are muscle aches due to overexertion during a heat wave, but we can prevent this by adding more shade outside, or maybe even close down the areas that are not possible to keep shade over, at least until the weather gets better, but the student want as much safe space outside as possible.

There is no price that can be placed on resting, spending time with friends and the outdoors. Having lunch in the outside area accumulates all three mental health boosters. The outdoor area can be a place where students are active with their friends especially during lunch time. Students find the outside more entertaining and more likely to increase one’s serotonin, the happiness hormone. Finally, the outdoors can simply be a place to enjoy the weather, get some fresh air and rest. Going outside is something that most students at DAA want and need.