There was once a time when cups were only used for holding beverages. Be it water, soda or lemonade, their only purpose was to quench one’s thirst with its refreshing liquid. But times have changed; CHS seniors have taken these cups, bearing names like “Subway,” “Qdoba” and “Five Guys,” and used them for a disturbing purpose—to look “sweet.”

Going out to lunch is a privilege that only seniors can enjoy, and many seniors strive to make sure that everyone is completely aware of this. After going out to lunch, these said people deliberately hold on to their cups for the rest of the afternoon primarily to look cool. This act also accomplishes two subsequent goals:
1) It proves to other seniors that they went out to lunch.
2) It rubs in the fact that underclassmen are not allowed to go out to lunch.

The first reason rings especially true for those insecure students who are trying to live up to the standards of senior year. After all, are you really a senior if you don’t go out to lunch everyday? These students are struggling to find their identity in their final year of high school, and as such, they feel the need to show off their drink cups as a badge of honor, showing everyone that they are, in fact, a senior. After four years of high school, students expect to feel like they are the big men on campus; once they realize that they aren’t at the top of the food chain, they head to the food court in hopes that their soda cup might just get them there.

Aside from proving to themselves and other seniors that they have the right to go out to lunch, these cup-carrying students, or “cup holders,” maintain a firm grip on their drink containers in order to make juniors and underclassmen jealous of this privilege. This is not only
immature but also ineffective, given that every student will eventually have this right.

I’m a reasonable person, and I understand that not every senior keeps his or her drink cup to look cool—only most of them do. For those few seniors who have good intentions in their cup-holding behavior, I apologize if I may have offended you. I understand that you paid good money for your drink and you are merely trying to get your dollar’s worth, and for that I admire you. This penny-pinching attitude is exactly why I ask for water with most of my meals, and is why I myself rarely carry a cup with me after lunch.

However, this apology applies to a very small percentage of cup holders, and I stand firm in my criticism against these people. In order to ensure minimum cup-exposure to underclassmen and to avoid holding one’s cup past its prime, I suggest that all cups should be thrown out midway through fifth period, at 12:08 p.m. So I ask all seniors to heed my warning for the greater good. Please just throw out your cups; no one wants to see them.