On the sunny noon of August 14th, at lunch A and B, leadership distributed new school IDs to the people waiting in line, with 3 tents, each one assigned to last names. Students with lunch queued up to obtain their new ID which would allow them to enter buildings and use it on the bus. Previously, students did not have these IDs or it would not work causing them to wait for someone to open the door from inside. While they may not have the pictures that were taken from this year’s recent photo day, they will have the ability to access the main campus buildings, which the 9th grade center campus IDs do not have access to. This makes the IDs vital for uses that are not limited to only identification. But what was the experience like for both students and ID distributors?

Students who were walking to A lunch saw 3 tables standing in the middle in the outside area, with no tents or shade installed. Students wondered why they were there, before heading into the main lunch hall. As the lunch period continued, volunteers went up to the chairs and started setting up boxes containing IDs and small canopies on top of the tables, providing shade and some relief for the volunteers and students who came up to grab their IDs. Now what exactly do school IDs do? Well IDs are very useful, they can open buildings, get you access to the bus, as well as scan it in the lunch line to avoid the tedious task of putting in your lunch number. Now,  each canopy had a different color, with signs containing a list of initials. The student had to find their first initial and go to the according table to pick up their ID. There were about 6 to 8 lines per canopy, each one distributing the ID of that specific initial. As students would walk up to the canopy, they would be guided to their specific initial, and would pick up the ID from the person working as a distributor. 

IB student, Ananda Cortes, shares : “it was pretty difficult, it was hot outside, people were shoving, and the lines were very long.” Most students present believed that it was difficult obtaining the IDs at lunch, due to the humidity of the outdoors, and the length of the lines. “The lines took up the entire lunch period, so I couldn’t really get lunch,” Ananda Cortes explains. She believed that it was difficult to get both lunch and an issued ID at the same lunch period, which is a sentiment most students held about the system that was used to hand out the IDs. As staff and leadership saw the excess of unissued IDs and the student complaints coming in, they had to find another system to successfully hand out the IDs, which brings us the next day, August 15th.

On August 15th, as students who did not take their picture the previous day lined up for their new school, they saw 2 students, each one sitting on a different desk across from each other, each one with a stack of brand new IDs. As students finished up their pictures, they were guided to the desks, each desk having specific first name initials, similar to the canopy system they used the previous day. But this new system was much more effective with handing out IDs, as it was more convenient for students, who didn’t need to use their precious lunch time to get an ID. The students and leadership passing out the IDs could enjoy an air conditioned room, which made waiting much more bearable. Additionally, since there were much less students in line, it allowed every student to obtain their ID with ease. 

In conclusion, IDs are essential to any student at Seminole high school’s life. They are the most convenient form of identification as well as a tool to improve student’s safety, get to class faster with the IDs ability to open doors, and getting on the bus. While many students thought the ID distribution was tedious and not well executed, many still enjoy their IDs, and find it very valuable as a school supply. So in the end, the effort put in from both students and leadership to distribute and obtain those IDs were worth it.