Katie Donnellan: Fears of Lunchtime

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

This audio interview is part of a series completed by STA journalism students who sat down with middle school students from around Kansas City.  We hoped to find out the realities of middle school life, from dating to cliques, from playing violin to playing volleyball.  The series was inspired by Ira Glass’s public radio show This American Life and its episode “Middle School.”  Please check back each day for the next few weeks to listen to another installment.

by Marie Sarson

Lunchtime can be a fearful routine for Katie Donnellan, a seventh grader at Visitation School.

“People will make a really big deal if you sit at their lunch table.” Katie says.

She also told me that you will get gossiped about if you try to sit with certain cliques. “Some cliques will get up and walk away if you put your lunch down at their table.” Katie tells me that she won’t sit with anyone but her group because she is afraid of being gossiped about.

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