As students prepared to continue their studies this semester, a Saugus High School senior spent more than a year working to secure picnic tables for students to use during lunch breaks amid a shortage of seating.
Those efforts have come to fruition.
At a school with more than a 2,400-student population, Kingsley Perez and her friends found themselves fighting for a picnic table during lunch time, racing to call dibs before other groups of students claimed a table throughout the school year.
Sometimes they won, other times they didn’t, and sometimes they all decided to share the table, but then would struggle due to the lack of space.
“It became a constant battle every day. Me and my friend would even run from class, and get the table because if we didn’t we’d have to resort to sitting on the quad, which is really nice, but it’s the ground,” she said during a phone interview.
Eventually, Perez began to brainstorm a solution. She contacted school staff and was told that purchasing new tables would cost about $1,400 each, and there were no funds to be able to do so.
But Perez didn’t let that stop her from creating Plan B. Eventually she came up with the idea of community partnerships, and pitching an entire presentation to local businesses for a chance to have them sponsor a table in exchange for a gold plaque with their company on it as a tradeoff.
But to convince these businesses, Perez knew she had to come prepared with facts, information, and numbers.
She researched information about the Saugus High student-to-table ratio, which according to her presentation pitch was 33 tables for 2,300 students, at the time.
Her plan was to add 50 more tables, which would provide 500 additional seats. Perez went as far as selling businesses the visual pitch, taking photos of empty spaces around campus where she envisioned a table could be placed.
She provided research from the National Association of School Psychologists, which stated that lack of tables for students is a challenge across schools all over the nation and leads to unnecessary stress for students during break, which should be a time for relaxing.
“I just think it’s really important for kids to have a place to sit and eat and relax and do their homework at the only two breaks they have during the whole day, the whole six-hour day,” she said.
In her presentation pitch she created for local businesses, she also stated that a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that having comfortable places for students on school campuses decreases absenteeism and boosts test scores.
With some savvy social media marketing, personal written letters to businesses, and cold emailing, and the help of a fellow classmate or two, Perez was able to secure six different businesses to purchase the first six tables.
Perez’s efforts embody exactly what administrators at Saugus High aim to instill in their students, Principal Genevieve Peterson Henry said.
“Besides making sure that our students are academically successful, our motto includes more than just academics. Although it is important to succeed academically, it’s important that students develop into leaders, that they serve themselves, and each other and our community,” she said, adding that she admires students who look for opportunities on school campus and outside in their own communities where they could take initiative to make a positive impact.
Now a senior, ready to finish off her final school year strong, Perez anticipated they would be delivered until the second semester of the 2026-27 academic year.
But now, something she thought she’d only enjoy for a semester, is something she’ll be able to see students and herself enjoy the rest of the school year.
“I’m just very glad that future generations will have them and my siblings will be able to have them,” she said, when she initially thought they’d be delivered next semester.
For Perez, the project became more about securing a place to sit during lunch. It became an opportunity to see what she could accomplish by advocating for something she believed her classmates needed.
“You can’t do something unless you believe in yourself, and believe that it is possible. I started to get really motivated after I got my first sponsor,” she said, which was the local School of Rock Santa Clarita, a place where Perez has taken voice lessons.
With her senior year underway, Perez is now turning her attention to the next chapter. She hopes to pursue film and music production in college, while hoping the effort she started at Saugus will continue to benefit students even after she graduates.
