At a time when the entire school is fighting for a space to eat at 11:48, Ms. Fintz, an Honors Biology teacher routinely hosts students an average of 20 students for lunch in her classroom. Fintz has been teaching for five years, and for the past two, she has left her door open for students to come in and eat lunch.
Fintz said: “students [told] [her] that they didn’t like sitting on the floors”, and so she took action.
Most teachers would enjoy a private lunch, quiet time to themselves or with a few colleagues, but Fintz put that thought aside to give students what they want. Alongside the Knitting Club which she hosts at lunch on Friday, numerous students flock to her room to converse while eating their lunch, somewhere they feel they can talk openly and have fun with their friends.
Jack Thomas, a sophomore at NPHS, is found in Fintz’s room for lunch frequently. While interacting with many of his friends, he feels he is able to talk openly. He feels comfortable in the classroom “because it is a nice room”, and enjoys occasionally talking to Fintz herself. Whether it be tossing a ball back and forth or just talking, he seems to find himself at home in Fintz’s classroom.
Noemi Case, another sophomore, is a less frequent visitor to the classroom.
She said she “didn’t even know who [Fintz] was until a week ago.”
She has started coming in, mainly to converse with friends and get off of the floor every now and then.
Case said that she enjoys being present because Fintz is “pretty chill. She doesn’t really care what you do. People usually mess around and throw stuff and she does not care. So it makes lunch interesting and fun.”
Case also feels as though she can talk openly to her peers in the area.
By inviting students to eat lunch in her classroom, Fintz has created a comfortable alternative to the floor.