Occupy CHS: Media Center Edition. The media center has been taken over, not by political protesters but by socializing students. These socialites have taken away CHS’ main quiet study space before school and during lunch.

 The only sounds one should find in a media center should come from the rustling of flipped pages, muted footsteps, and the occasional whispered question to a media center specialist or friend. However, studiers in our school media center will instead find loud iPhone versus Droid debates and tedious monologues detailing the lame sophomore party that happened last weekend. These pointless conversations are distracting and inhibit successful studying. The media center is not meant for this much social interaction.

 According to media specialist Paige Pagley, the media center staff counted over 500 students walking in to the media center in one lunch period. This means that in one lunch period, one fourth of the CHS student population ambled into the media center, and probably most of those kids were going in to study.

 Some members of the media center staff will go over to individuals to tell them to quiet down and enforce cell phone etiquette (talking on cell phones is not allowed in the library). These actions are a good start, but more needs to be done because the effect is only temporary since other students will quickly come in and keep up the noise level.

 The school is not designed for quiet, private spaces, but rather a collaborative work environment. The back of the media center is evidence of that as the tables promote groups, and these tables are where some of the noise is coming from. This noise is not productive when working together has nothing to do with schoolwork. These conversations can take place outside of the media center. According to Pagley, the purpose of a school media center is to provide a place for students to study, collaborate and work on projects.

 A proper library is quiet. Go to a public library and any conversation one would hear would be in soft, hushed tones. If those are too distracting, the library has the option of quiet study rooms. However, CHS should not have to build a new library with quiet study rooms or even implement a stricter noise policy.

 Some students say that there are other places in the school to study and get work done, like a quiet classroom. However, students who want to get work done should have one place in the school that they can go to escape the distractions of other students. None of the classrooms can top the media center’s valuable resources of books, computers and media center staff to answer questions.

 Students go into the media center to socialize with friends because of convenience. It is a steady meeting place that can become your high school niche. Do not let this happen. Instead of looking for your friends in the media center, try finding a nice locker cubby or table in the cafeteria to claim as your turf and daily lunch meeting place. Downstairs hallway floors are an ideal place to sit down, eat lunch and catch up with friends.

 These very same hallway floors are not ideal for studying or completing last night’s homework. These floors are uncomfortable for studying positions and have many distractions. Students do not need a table to lay out their lunch (or if they do, they have the cafeteria), but most students need a table to lay out their notes to study for tomorrow’s math quiz.

 To all CHS socialites, please leave the media center. Please take your conversations elsewhere so the library can be used for its actual purpose. Please find another spot to talk about last night’s Glee episode or the new Muppets movie, and let me study my appendicular skeleton notes in peace.