By Annie Dreyer

In addition to the stress of getting into college and an intense workload, senior year also comes with its benefits — one of which is the privilege to go off campus during free periods.

While most seniors flock off campus just to get food or coffee due to a lack of time and the aforementioned stress of being a senior, some have taken this new liberty to do something more interesting.

Colin Turner ’08 has gone twice to The Grove by himself to see movies. Turner had break, third period, fourth period and fifth period free, during which he was able to see “Superbad” (running time: 114 minutes) and “Shoot ‘Em Up” (running time: 86 minutes).

Even though the Grove is roughly 30 minutes away from Harvard-Westlake, according to Mapquest.com, Turner went to The Grove because it opens earlier than other theatres and because the more convenient Sherman Oaks Galleria is currently closed down for renovations. Turner had to plan out a schedule the night before because he knew he would be under strict time constraints, but he did make it back to campus with three minutes to spare before class.

Since he went to both movies so early “There was nobody in the theater, so it was pretty enjoyable,” he said. “It was a cool theater, and I felt like I owned the theater.”

Turner is going to plan another “out of the ordinary” activity he said, but he is not sure what he will do yet. Until then, like most of his classmates, Turner frequents restaurants such as McDonald’s and Taco Bell.Brian Bochner ’08 and Nick Cuse ’08 did not have to travel as far as Turner  did when they went to Cuse’s house, which is 10 minutes away, to play the newly released Madden NFL 08 video game earlier this year.

Bochner and Cuse had fifth and sixth periods free, so they were able to play for over 45 minutes.
“It was awesome being able to leave school during the middle of the day, play video games and then come back to school,” Bochner said.

Like Turner,   Bochner hopes to experience more unusual activities off campus in the future, such as possibly going swimming sometime this week with Cuse and Brandon Wolf ’08.

Also at the beginning of the year, Kiva Eisenstock ’08 and Emma Kaplan ’08 went shopping in Studio City during one free period but have not gone since.

Kaplan found it was too difficult to go shopping because “it takes more than 45 minutes if [I] want to try stuff on,” she said. “[I] definitely need a double free, and it has to be later in the day because a lot of the stores don’t open until 11 or so.”

Even though shopping proved to be an inconvenient option for Kaplan, she still greatly enjoys going off campus and does so quite often.

“It’s pretty regular that in the middle of the day, I feel so lethargic that the only thing that can pick me up is a latte from Peet’s [Coffee],” she said. “So it’s definitely necessary. And it’s nice to know if you’re craving something that you can get it.”

Unlike most of his classmates, Matthew Krumpe ’08 has actually never gone off campus, despite being allowed to for over two months. Since Krumpe only has five frees a week and doesn’t have a car, he finds it would be too difficult to arrange going off campus.

“There is no point,” he said. “I have everything here. The only reason I would go off campus would be to get food, but I can have it here.”

Whereas Krumpe only has five free periods a week, Alyssa Siegel ’08 has three free periods in a row. Two Mondays ago, the Spirit Assembly was interspersed within these three free periods, giving Siegel roughly three hours to go off campus. Siegel chose to go home and take a short nap because she lives close to campus and was over-tired.

Aside from going home this one time, Siegel has only gone off campus to get food, as most seniors have.

While some seniors may fret while off campus about making it back to campus in time for class, Ian Sprague ’08 has never been worried about it.

“They can wait for me,” he said with a chuckle.

— Additional Reporting by Hana Al-henaid, Drew Lash and Susan Nussbaum