One way or another, everyone has some sort of problem with the way others conduct themselves in our school’s hallways. As a high school senior, I do think I am qualified to give a few tips to help our hallways stay more organized.

1 – Stay to your Right

Road rules apply here! Staying to your right in the halls automatically assures organized transportation to your class. It is much easier to walk the way you need to go when all the people around you are walking the same way as well. In the cross-sections of hallways between each floor, this rule also applies. Treat the middle of the hall like a roundabout to get to where you are going. In a similar vein, this rule applies to stairwells. Stay on the outermost staircase while travelling up the stairs, and the inner staircase while walking down.

2 – Avoid Knocking into People 

We’ve all been there. To avoid this, some tips I’d recommend are to:

A: If you see someone coming, acknowledge them and make a conscious effort to step to the side for them. Don’t ignore them and pretend they’re not there. Acknowledgement of the person walking in your direction and choosing to step aside significantly lowers the chances of unwanted shoulder-brushing.

B: If you are walking a friend to their class, but your class is in the other direction, or you have any other reason to turn around in the hallway, under no circumstances should you pivot to start walking in the other direction. Walking against the flow of the hall increases chances of unwanted accidents. The optimal way to switch directions in the hall is to make a u-turn.

3 – Refrain from Blocking the Way

Everyone in the halls has somewhere they need to be. Accomplishing that task gets difficult when there’s a group of people having a conversation while standing in the middle of the hall, or in the center common area on each floor. It is perfectly understandable to need to have a conversation with someone in the halls. Maybe you just don’t see them any other time of day. However, if the need arises, step to the side of the halls, out of the way! Truthfully, the best way is to walk and talk, it is ok to change the direction you are walking, but if one person is already at their classroom, that is ok, simply step aside to let traffic flow while you talk.

4 – Walk at a Brisk Pace

Slow walkers are its own problem. Getting stuck behind one in a relatively crowded hall can be the factor that makes you late to class. Even worse are groups of friends that crowd together to make a line across an empty hall, then walk slowly down it. Ideally, groups should walk in twos down the hall in order to let others pass, and walk a little faster when you do.

5 – Partaking in Greetings

When you see somebody that you know in the hallways, it is polite to greet them, even if briefly. Then why is it so common to avert your eyes when you pass somebody you know? A quick wave goes a long way. It should be normalized to give your friends and acquaintances that you see on a regular basis a quick wave when passed in the halls, or at least a polite smile. This is not really a navigational rule, but there is certainly more to keeping the halls a nice place than just navigation. Manners matter, too.

6 – Avoiding Messes

It is much too common for there to be messes in the hallways. One increasingly familiar instance of this I see is breakfast food, as well as supplies, pens, pencils, and stacks of papers in the stairwells. This is hazardous, especially on the stairs. Items left in crowded halls are likely to cause a person to slip and fall. It is much harder to avoid these hazards in a crowd. Not to mention, that it is rather rude to the custodians who clean our halls every day. 

Honorable Mentions 

On Affection…

Save your affection for another time. No, no one wants to see you and your partner participating in PDA on their way to fifth period chemistry. It also sometimes can block the halls, which is not ideal.

On Tripping…

Please politely ignore when someone trips in the halls or falls up the stairs. We’ve all done it, don’t laugh. Help them pick up any items they may have dropped. 

Kindness and consideration is the key when it comes to making the hallways of Monroe-Woodbury a better place. If we all agree on these rules, at least to some extent, the hallways can become better with our collective efforts. It is my final wish that when I graduate, the students of Monroe-Woodbury High School may finally find a more organized way to walk the halls. This guide is my gift to the student body in hopes that this wish may someday become reality. Walk safe, M-Dub!