East students are in distress and dismay as the reason for indoor lunch Jan. 8 was revealed over the intercom.
“We have been informed of a recent spill of the dangerous chemical dihydrogen monoxide on school grounds. To help protect the students of East, we’ve ordered lunch to be indoors for the next week.”
The spill happened earlier that day, when a freshman misguidedly brought a plastic container of the substance for use in chemistry class. When attempting to wade through the crowd to enter the school, the container fell and burst onto the concrete. This sparked panic among observers, as dihydrogen monoxide has several dangerous properties such as being a known solvent, increasing corrosion, and can be lethal when gotten into the lungs.
“It was terrifying,” said junior Parra Noyd. “There was a small pop, and all of a sudden it was all over the floor. You could see it creeping through the cracks, crawling toward all of us. I’m just glad I made it out alive.”
This isn’t the first time indoor lunch has been canceled for such reasons. The school had ordered such a protocol several times after trace amounts of the chemical were found in rainstorms.
“We make sure to close lunch for several days after it rains,” said Principal Jesse Casey. “Since student health is our first priority, we’ve decided that stuffing everyone indoors within close proximity to each other for around 45 minutes is the best course of action here.”
The administration’s decision to halt outdoor lunch didn’t come without its detractors. Some students have criticized the administration due to their extreme response to the situation.
“I don’t get why we needed indoor lunch for a whole week,” said sophomore Ellie Minnt. “I know that dihydrogen monoxide is dangerous, but I’m pretty sure you can just wash it away with water right? That’d only take a day at most.”
Though this spill has caused distress among the student body, the school will make sure to continue to protect the people of East from these types of hazardous chemicals.
Photo by Will Pazzula/The ECHO
