At MHS, there are many students that you may not know suffer from allergies. People who don’t suffer from allergies of any kind might not understand the struggles that people with them have to deal with on a daily basis. From even being near something to ingesting it without knowing, in severe cases these allergic reactions can result in someone’s death.

Whether it’s a food allergy or seasonal, there may be things you are doing that could potentially affect them in a negative way. Bringing things such as peanut butter to class, depending on how allergic the individual is, could cost them a trip to the emergency room. In front of many classroom doors around the school there are posters stating “No Peanuts / Tree Nuts Please!” Although, some students bring the snack containing that allergen into the classroom regardless. Whether they don’t understand the effect it has, or they simply don’t care, it is important to inform students on the outcome of another student having an allergic reaction.

Nurse Deb Stucky, said, “Peanut butter crackers can cause a reaction. If you are eating something and you are talking to that person, some people with peanut butter allergies are so sensitive that could cause a reaction. There are lots of people eating things containing peanuts in the building. If they are sitting next to it and not even touching it could cause a reaction.”

Food being something you can somewhat control, seasonal allergies is a completely different story. There is always medications such as Benadryl to lesson the effects however, the individual still may suffer from some symptoms. While some people get excited for certain parts of the year, others prepare for an outbreak of sneezing, watery eyes, and itching. Megan Lulloff, sophomore, said, “It sucks having allergies. You literally can’t even do anything, I mean I can’t. Like watery eyes you can’t see anything, so it prevents you from doing fun things I guess. It just sucks like if you want to go get ice cream you can’t really, because it obviously upsets your stomach. You can’t really have everything you used to have like everyone else.”

Overall, allergies in general is a very serious topic and it is crucial that students follow the rules and regulations in certain classrooms. While we cannot necessarily control seasonal allergies, we can definitely lower the number of students that have a food allergy outbreak at MHS.