by Henry Gatto ’25
October 31, 2023
The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the writer and do not reflect the views of University School of Nashville or the Peabody Press.
USN’s culture of freedom has always been important to parents and students alike. But since 2014, the boundaries expressed in our student handbook have progressively shrunk. These cuts have gone mostly unnoticed by students, but they’ve harmed smaller businesses.
One privilege that draws many prospective students to USN is students’ ability to regularly travel to local establishments for off-campus lunch. Off-campus privileges are often discussed throughout students’ high school careers. Whether it’s freshmen planning how to earn the ability to travel off-campus or seniors organizing Chipotle runs, conversations regarding off-campus privileges happen every day. However, most students are unaware of the origins of off-campus privileges.
For as long as any USN faculty members can remember, USN has allowed students to go off campus. During lunch, students with off-campus privileges may leave the building without permission from a faculty member. As of this year, signing out of the High School office with High School Administrative Assistant Laura Snow is required to leave the USN campus before or after lunchtime. The USN boundaries extend from 19th Avenue to 21st Avenue in the east and west; to the north and south, students may eat at establishments between Grand Avenue to Vanderbilt’s Peabody Lawn.
The ability to travel off-campus during the school day is uncommon in private schools around Nashville. Other schools such as FRA, MBA and Harpeth Hall will give their seniors one or two days per semester to leave campus for their lunch break.
Assistant Head of High School for Student Affairs Nicole Jules acknowledges the freedom and independence cultivated within the USN community.
“A big part of our school is allowing students to have some freedom and learning how to work within boundaries…what better way for them to do that than to be able to frequent some of our neighborhood stores and restaurants within a boundary?” Jules said. “I think that was part of it. Part of being in a cityscape is being able to navigate some of that [freedom], and so I think a lot of what we try to do is prepare students for the world.”
Students have a variety of preferences regarding the frequency of off-campus lunches. A survey of 25 students from the Peabody Press revealed students go off campus anywhere from three to four times a week to as infrequently as once a month. These choices go hand and hand with the freedom and individuality expressed in the means behind these privileges.
The restaurants in our area include Cava, Poki, and Chipotle, all of which are build-your-own bowl chains; sandwich standbys Subway and Panera; Dunkin’ and Starbucks, which are popular coffee chains, as well as Helen’s Hot Chicken.
These restaurants fall under a lot of the same categories. Often, students will find a few spots they like and become repeat customers. Many students reported the unexpectedly expensive lunches inside our boundaries.
“I think that there should be a student discount and or some sort of USN partnership, so it’s not as expensive. it really adds up and I spend too much money,” said Corina Chalos ‘26, after just receiving her privileges a week prior with her sophomore classmates..
In conversations with administrators for high school around student life, a few points were brought up around the safety of extending the boundaries. Students need to make sure they are staying safe at all times. High school is open to allowing other restaurants, but students would have to be back in their classes after lunch on time. They would not be allowed to drive their cars, unless asked for specific permission. Finally, A USN head would have to reachout to the establishment and exchange contact information.
Jules implores students to come chat. Leaving the door open to new boundaries, USN wants to cater to the students and allow space for advocacy that we pride ourselves on.
