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Grace Baldwin

Guest Columnist

If you’ve visited the school during lunch or break hour this week, you probably noticed a multitude of students dancing and/or bobbing their heads. Perhaps you even noticed the huge huddle of people standing on the far side and chatting excitedly. No, Belfry hasn’t turned into the set of the next High School Musical. However, we have scored a jukebox, and to the students, it’s the shiny new toy.

It really doesn’t matter what kind of music is playing, it’s a nice change to have some tunes as background noise to break up the monotony of the loud jumble of voices. Needless to say, it’s really funny to catch a stranger dancing along to the beat or to hear a friend singing the wrong lyrics. Even if the jukebox isn’t a huge change in our cafeteria, it does provide quite a bit of affordable entertainment.

A lot of students make a mad dash to be the first one to put money in and select their favorite song. Country is probably the most popular in my lunch, with a regular of Brad Paisley, George Straight, and Kenny Chesney. The machine also works at break in 6th period, where there is a wide variety of genres and songs blaring. The school rarely gets an opportunity to get things that are strictly for the student’s entertainment, and most students are ecstatic about the new addition. Mr. Varney has been looking into getting this for us for several years, and now that it’s here, he is all smiles too.

Music is scientifically proven to affect your mood. I have to admit my mood has been better since we’ve had music playing while we take lunch. It doesn’t matter if I like the song playing that day or not. It’s an automatic conversation. Everyone can discuss what’s playing by saying “Oh My Gosh! I love this song!” and singing along. (This, at my lunch table, is really quite amusing.) Alternatively, you and your friends can complain “Please tell me who paid for this? This is the worst song I’ve ever heard.” No matter what your opinion on it is, someone somewhere in that lunchroom will feel the same way as you.

Because this is a privilege the school chose to give us as a reward, they do have the right to take it away as a disciplinary action. On behalf of literally everyone, I ask the students of Belfry to stay out of trouble so our music doesn’t get taken away. If we show that we appreciate the effort our administration made by placing the music box here, we may open ourselves up for the opportunity for more things like this. I really don’t want to go back to a lunch where the only thing you can hear is a loud, annoying roar that could be mistaken as a huge army rowdily declaring war.