The class of 2026 recently received their red card privileges starting on February 26. Find out how seniors are most excited to use their red cards, as well as their thoughts on red card policies, from grades to time limits. 

What are you most excited to use your red card for?

Koby Yu (12): I’m excited to go out with my friends during lunch and office hours. Recently we’ve gone out to get Chipotle and McDonald’s and Burger King. It feels kind of exciting just because we have never been able to do [this] before. It’s just kind of a nice twist, especially for senior year. 

Sophia Ou (12): I’m excited to go off campus and eat food with my friends. I have a friend with the same free period right before lunch, and so we want to go to maybe Mitsuwa or the Lion Market Plaza. And we want to go to Tsujita — it’s the ramen place. Also an udon place, and we want to get donuts at Stan’s donuts.

Mia Tang (12): The main thing that I’m excited about is going across the street with friends, especially during a free period into a long lunch just because there’s a lot of places to eat out or shop at across the street, whether it’s in the Lion Market or over at Mitsuwa.

Do you think you received your red cards at a good time?

Koby: Yeah, definitely. For a long time we were kind of in the dark in terms of what we were going to get our red cards. We waited a long time. I think a lot of us were ready to get it as soon as the year started. It’s kind of a thing that we hear about from when we’re younger from all the other seniors. This is one of the most highly anticipated things that the seniors get. 

Sophia: I think it’s good that we got it well into this semester, because I feel like if we got too early, then more people would slack off. I don’t really know why they gave it to us so late because we’re already halfway through the second semester. But I really don’t have any complaints.

Mia: To be honest, I feel like right now is probably a good time. If we got earlier, personally, I don’t know if I would have used them that much, especially because of a lot of shifting in the second semester and figuring things out. Especially coming back from break, you have to catch up and relearn everything. So I would say this is a pretty solid time. 

Dean Lizardo (senior advisor): What’s really cool is that since red cards are generally tied to things like maintaining your academic performance and still showing up to class and still maintaining your responsibilities, it’s a nice incentive to keep the seniors honest during a time frame where they have really strong incentives to not necessarily hold up to their usual standards.

How often do you think you will use your red card? 

Koby: Probably every other day. Right now, I’m just kind of checking the lunch menu, and whenever I see something I don’t want, I just [go]. That’s my day. 

Sophia: I’m thinking of going aspirationally once a week or probably, but I’ll probably end up going maybe once or twice this whole school year. It’s kind of hard to plan. 

Mia: It depends on my larger friend group’s availability, I’d say. I want to aim for at least once every two weeks. But again, I can probably go out at least once a week during my own free period.

How else do you plan to use or are using your red card?

Koby: Right now I kind of just go out to a cafe and do my work there. I think a change of scenery is always nice, just to mix things up a little bit and to make things a little more fun, especially if you go with a friend. 

Mia: To be honest, I feel like I need to be kind of productive during my free period. [The red card] is more of a social event for me, going out with friends. 

What are some upsides and downsides to the current red card system?

Mia: It’d be great if there was more time, but at the same I understand it’s really just during the school day. And to be honest, everyone I hang out with, we can just hang out during non-school days anyways. 

Koby: You’ve got to go quick. Going off campus — if you’re going far, you definitely don’t have a lot of time because you’ve got to go there and back before your next class. It’s kind of all about where you’re going and what you’re doing with your time. But if you plan it right, then it’s more than enough. 

Sophia: It’s kind of a pain to use because you still have to check out of the office. So the option is there, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll affect my life that much.

Lizardo: It helps students understand the importance of being responsible in a relatively unprotected environment. You’re going to have these responsibilities when you go off to college. You’ll be walking around your big campuses, and you’ll be free to jump from classroom to classroom, jump off campus, on campus. Like they said when they were first given the red cards, it’s a nice taste of the real world.