10 Songs You NEED in Your Playlist This Summer

1 – One Way or Another (Blondie) – Of course, we need to start strong with a classic. When I think of summer, I think of driving with the windows down, and this song is absolutely perfect for that scenario. It’s the perfect mix of a throwback and yet also something timeless and completely sing-able. 

2 – Roses (feat ROZES) (The Chainsmokers) – Isn’t 2026 the new 2016? If that’s the case, this song will take you right back in all the best ways. This song screams spending all day at the beach with your best friends.

3 – End of August (Noah Kahan) – Aside from the fact that August is in the name, Noah Kahan’s new album will absolutely be the backbone of the summer for many of us. With his tour making its way to New York in July, I know many of us will be screaming End of August and many iconic new hits this summer. 

4 – Deeply Still In Love (ROLE MODEL) – Since I know we all watched Off Campus, I had to include a song from the soundtrack. For a show that was jam packed with incredible songs, this one by ROLE MODEL made me feel ready for summer when it came on, bringing just the right energy. 

5 – Under the Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers) – If you haven’t already gotten into the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it’s about time. Maybe I’m biased since I grew up listening to them, but this song reminds me of barbeques with family and time spent down the shore. 

6 – Tattoos (Tyler Childers) – As someone who used to hate country music, take it from me when I say there is no better song to get your mood up on a hot summer day. Tyler Childers brings all the right vibes and truly holds a special place in my heart. 

7 – The Cave (Mumford and Sons) – I cannot rave about this band enough. While their newer music is equally incredible, songs like The Cave take me back to my childhood and are an absolute necessity to your summer playlist. 

8 – Dreams (The Cranberries) – Who doesn’t love The Cranberries? Trust me; if you’re ever taking the train into NYC on a sunny summer morning, pop an airpod in and play this song and your life will be changed. 

9 – Doses and Mimosas (Cherub) – While I have no doubts this is already on your playlist, it’s easy to forget some of these iconic summer songs exist. Next time you’re tanning at the lake with your friends, play Doses and Mimosas!

10 – Rock Me (One Direction) – Even if you weren’t obsessed with the Heated Rivalry edit to this song a few months ago, most of us have heard this song at some point in our childhood. One Direction is never a bad choice for a playlist. 

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When you picture an unsolved math problem that top researchers are currently tackling, what comes to mind? Chaotic graphs? Pages of Greek symbols? Complex technical vocabulary that isn’t even taught in high school?

In school, we are used to operating under the assumption that every problem eventually has a neat solution waiting in an answer key. But real-world mathematics doesn’t work like that. It turns out, some of the most famous and important mysteries in math don’t look like advanced calculus at all. Instead, they are oddly simple—questions so basic they seem like they should take five minutes to figure out, yet they remain completely unsolved to this day.

“Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding.” — William Thurston

The Collatz Conjecture

The Collatz Conjecture is arguably the most famous example of a problem that only takes basic arithmetic to understand, yet has completely baffled the greatest minds in the world. Here’s how it works:

1. Pick any positive whole number. 
2. If it is even, divide it by 2. If it is odd, multiply it by 3 and add 1 (often written as 3n + 1). 
3. Take your new number and repeat the process. 

The conjecture states that no matter what number you start with, you will always eventually reach the loop of 4 → 2 → 1. Starting with 27, for instance, takes 111 steps,and reaches up to 9,232 before finally crashing down. Computers have exhaustively checked every single number up to 295 quintillion, and every single one has eventually reached 1. However, no one has yet rigorously proved that all numbers do.

“Mathematics may not be ready for such problems.” — Paul Erdős

Goldbach’s Conjecture

Prime numbers are the building blocks of mathematics, yet they still hold secrets that defy explanation. To be precise, there are actually two versions of this mystery: the “weak” conjecture and the “strong” conjecture. 

The Weak Goldbach Conjecture states that every odd number greater than 5 can be written as the sum of three primes. This one is no longer an unsolved mystery! In 2013, a mathematician named Harald Helfgott finally published a long and rigorous proof showing it to be absolutely true.

But the Strong Goldbach Conjecture is the one that still puzzles mathematicians today. It proposes a rule that feels like a magic trick: pick any even whole number greater than 2. The conjecture states that it can always be written as the sum of two prime numbers. For example:

• 8 = 3 + 5, 
• 20 = 7 + 13, 
• 50 = 19 + 31. 

Computers have verified this rule for numbers up to 4 quintillion. However, despite nearly 300 years of effort, no one has been able to write a formal proof guaranteeing this works forever.

“That every even integer is a sum of two primes, I regard as a completely certain theorem, although I cannot prove it.” — Leonhard Euler

The 196 Problem

This is a puzzle you can test on your phone calculator right now. Take a number, reverse its digits, and add the two numbers together. Keep repeating this process until you get a palindrome (a number that reads the same forwards and backwards). For example, 56 plus 65 gives 121 in just one step. The mystery lies in the number 196. People have written programs that have run 196 through millions of steps, resulting in numbers with millions of digits, and it has never formed a palindrome. Yet, the mathematical proof stating that it never will remains entirely elusive.

“The essence of mathematics lies in its freedom.” — Georg Cantor

4. The Perfect Cuboid Problem

If you have taken high school geometry, you know the Pythagorean theorem: a² + b² = c². The Perfect Cuboid Problem scales this up into three dimensions. Think of a standard 3D brick. It has length, width, and height. It also has diagonal lines (face diagonals) across its three distinct faces, and a space diagonal that cuts straight through the middle of the brick from one corner to the opposite corner. Mathematicians want to know if there is a “Perfect Cuboid” where all three edges, all three face diagonals, and the space diagonal are all perfect, whole integers. Computers have exhaustively checked trillions of combinations and found nothing, but a proof declaring it impossible does not exist.

“How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality?” — Albert Einstein

It’s easy to get frustrated when you’re stuck on a math test, but it helps to remember that being stuck is actually the core of real mathematics. For these four problems, there is no answer key to fall back on. Nobody knows how the story ends. But that’s what makes them so great. Indeed, the person who finally cracks the Collatz Conjecture or finds that Perfect Cuboid won’t necessarily need a supercomputer. They might just need a piece of paper, a pencil, and a really good idea. 

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Each Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon, in a room filled with the hum of 3D printers and tables scattered with prototypes, a group of high schoolers meet with a shared goal: building rockets that are able to win the American Rocketry Challenge.

The Makerspace at the Mountain Lakes Public Library is home to its very own rocketry team, Team Tungsten. The group includes Katherine Yakovets, Isabella Marotta, Evie Marotta, Josie Marotta, Jason Dimitov, Jack Wallace, Christian Lim, Andrew Matty, Medha Vavilia and mentor Richard He. Marotta Controls sponsors the team’s pursuit of model rocketry.

The team has spent months, dedicating hours to designing, testing, and refining their rockets and on April 5th, 2026, the team officially qualified for Nationals, placing among the top 10% nationwide, being one of 100 teams out of over 1,000 to make it. Team Tungsten’s achievement is especially notable because the team manufactures and designs their rockets entirely using custom 3D printing. 

After qualifying for regionals, Team Tungsten 3D printed four entirely new rockets, ensuring that they would do their best to maximize their chances for Nationals. Some of the major improvements the team made included printing custom weight sets for fine-tuning performance, improving egg capsule design to prevent breaking on impact, and fixing parachute deployment issues to make sure that their rockets would properly slow down for a stable descent back to land. Katherine Yakovets, member of Team Tungsten, explained, “We basically went back and fixed everything that went wrong at regionals.”

The American Rocketry Challenge is scored with precision. To make it to Nationals, teams aim for a flight time between 36-39 seconds and an altitude of 750 feet without the egg that is placed inside the rocket breaking upon impact. One point off second or per foot off target results in a penalty point with the goal being to have the lowest total score, similar to golf. Team Tungsten earned a score of approximately 14 points, which was well below the cutoff of around 23 points, securing their spot at Nationals. “Finding out that we qualified was amazing but not a total surprise. We knew how much work we had put in, so seeing it pay off was really rewarding and it still feels surreal” says Katherine.

Team Tungsten will be traveling to Virginia on May 16th, 2026 to participate in the Nationals Finals for $20,000 and the chance to represent the United States at the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough or Paris Air Show. At Nationals, there are other fun challenges that teams can compete in such as a costume contest and a scavenger hunt where there is a cash prize of $500 for winners. Teams also have the opportunity to receive awards like Outstanding Mentor and Outstanding Team Advisor. 

I’m proud of the team. This is only our second year competing and we understood the challenge,” says Richard He, mentor of Team Tungsten. “Competing in Nationals is uncharted territory but we are fully prepared for anything and everything” 

While their engineering skills have strengthened, the months of creating pieces, testing rockets, and random Walmart Trips have also brought the team closer together. With just over a month until Nationals, Team Tungsten is ready to take on the American Rocketry Challenge not just as competitors, but as a team shaped by resilience and experience.

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Over the past year, it’s likely that many of you have been tormented with repeated references to the fabled name “Clavicular.” The 20 year old American streamer has certainly been making his rounds recently through his growing presence on Kick and Twitch, two live streaming platforms. Clavicular, or Braden Peters, became popular due to his role in popularizing the ‘looksmaxxing’ trend, in which people, typically white males, fixate on becoming as attractive as possible. In my opinion, however, this publicity and rise to fame is not only a tragedy, but also a risk to the already gullible and vulnerable youth.

What is Looksmaxxing?

On the surface, looksmaxxing is a tame process and subculture of making changes to one’s lifestyle like frequent exercise or proper dieting in order to look as physically attractive as possible. However, this is not the entirety of the community. Indeed, influencer proponents of looksmaxxing occasionally worship dangerous methods like ‘bone smashing,’ in which people LITERALLY hit their mandible bone with a hammer, starving themselves to lose as much fat as possible to appear more vascular, or even taking hard drugs to enhance their looks. These methods might be extreme, but they are certainly way too popular and well known online, which may have dangerous implications for a newer generation of social media users. 

Here in this video we can see Clavicular performing the ‘bone smashing’ technique, followed by an expert explaining the long-term risks of doing so. While this is an extreme of the looksmaxxing subculture, often labeled as ‘hardmaxxing,’ it has become popular and widespread online as shown. The innocent nature of trying to better oneself and become their best possible version is perfectly fine, but the popular, more attention grabbing aspects of looksmaxxing, like these extreme methods, have seemed to become the face of the subculture.

Clavicular’s Role

Clavicular’s entire personality is shaped around ‘mogging’ other men, which essentially means outclassing another’s attractiveness. This can be seen through videos of him comparing himself to his fans, picking on people who are clearly less conventionally attractive. It’s clear that through watching him buckle when confronted with more attractive men and recognizing his harsh, demotivating words when it comes to rating his fans, Clavicular is an insecure narcissist who exploits his radical values regarding physical appearance for publicity. 

I truly believe that Clavicular is a tragic character who, from the ripe age of 14, has never felt comfortable with how he looked and decided to take drastic measures in order to morph himself into his own twisted form of pure masculinity. Unfortunately, Clavicular has turned his radical ideas, which stem from his insecurity, into fame, endangering Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Over the past year or so, I have seen and even interacted with (liking, sharing) countless ‘looksmaxxing’ videos, in which entertaining videos compare ordinary people who may not be conventionally attractive to ‘looksmaxxers’ who clearly dedicate a portion of their lives to advancing their physical appearance. Paired with edited videos with flashy transitions and pop music, one’s attractiveness is essentially gamified, with those who don’t fit influencers like Clavicular’s standards being shamed. Below are two ‘edits’ which demonstrate this seemingly harmless comparison being used as entertainment online.

As videos like these are spread online, the picture perfect male physique and appearance start to seem like the norm, which can make adolescents feel like they are falling behind. This is the true tragedy behind the extremes of looksmaxxing, as what began at the surface as a beneficial mindset to improving oneself turned into an unrealistic standard, which may lead some to feel inferior than others. In a way, Clavicular is almost declining social progress, as people are not being encouraged to accept themselves and be happy, but instead the opposite, to pursue these unrealistic standards which are likely the result of countless hours of dedication and maybe even cosmetic operations. By making the extremes of looksmaxxing mainstream and normalized, the vulnerable youth suffers greatly in the self esteem department, leading them to worry about things that they shouldn’t have to at their age. At the end of the day, teens already have enough to worry about in their lives, like school, relationships, and even nutrition, so adding anxiety from feeling like their appearance is inferior to others would complicate their lives beyond belief. Additionally, teens often don’t gain the ability to respect themselves until later in their lives when they are developed enough to think for themselves, so seeing these extreme methods online may cause them to try it out for themselves, thinking it might be the only option to change their social lives, which could cause irreversible physical damage.

In conclusion, I feel Clavicular suffers from a lack of self acceptance. It is evident that he masks his true personality in order to comply with the extreme societal and physical standards he has helped to publicize. If influencers like Clavicular can begin to focus on the positive aspects of looksmaxxing, like the small things people can do daily to enhance their lives, inducing their physical appearance, I think that the culture could become less problematic and instead convert into a positive movement, rather than what it has become today.

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When school finishes for summer break, it feels like there is so much to do. Endless hours with friends and fun in the sun. Even though it seems like every minute will be filled with activities, people tend to resort to technology. Instead of spending time outside, they will be isolated on their iPhones. To stop yourself from wasting the summer away, we have some fun activities you should try. Crafts are a perfect way to spend your time and stay offline. 

One activity to do is making patchwork clothing from old items. While this does require basic sewing skills, it is an easy way to recycle fabric. You can make patchwork hoodies, t-shirts, tank tops, etc. All you need is a needle, thread, extra fabric, and the piece of clothing you want to change. Tutorials can be easily found online, along with inspiration for your next project. Below, we have listed both tutorials and pictures for this fun craft.

In addition to making patchwork designs, embroidery is a fun way to rejuvenate old clothing. This activity is more difficult and requires an embroidery hoop to keep the fabric taught. In addition to the hoop, you should also have embroidery floss. If you are feeling fancy, bead embroidery is also very cool! Instead of embroidery floss, you need basic thread and small beads. Instead of filling in the area with color from strings, you fill everything in with beaded color. A helpful tool to make any type of embroidery easier is embroidery transfer paper, but it is not needed for basic designs.

On a side note, buttons can also be a lot of fun when modifying clothing. They add unique whimsy to anything and are easy to sew on. Button collections can also become a fun pastime due to the varied sizes, shapes, and colors of buttons. Whether you have a large or small collection, the buttons can be used for practical or ornamental purposes. Large bags of buttons can be found anywhere online or in any crafts store. 

If sewing is not your thing, string bracelets are a fun way to pass time. They use the same embroidery floss mentioned earlier and can be easily attached to water bottles on the go. Designs range in difficulty, so this activity is for everyone. Different patterns can be found on social media apps or on braceletbook.com. Making bracelets also helps fine motor skills and hand coordination. Bracelets also don’t take up too much attention, so they can be done when and wherever. 

Another activity that helps with fine motor skills is crocheting. Crocheting requires yarn and a crochet hook. This task can be a little more difficult than the others, but it is a fun hobby to learn. Similarly to string bracelets, there are different levels of crocheting. If you want to learn how to crochet but can’t find a tutorial that works for you, join the crochet club next year. The crochet club hopes to debut next year, but there are no guarantees. 

Something easier than crocheting, sewing, or making string bracelets is creating beaded keychains. All you need is stretchy elastic and small colored beads in order to make adorable keychains for anything. There are patterns for these keychains easily accessible online, and inspiration is just a quick Google search away. Animals make amazing keychains for cute additions to a backpack. 

Lastly, model magic can be a fun activity for someone who isn’t the most crafty. Plain white model magic can be turned any color with a marker or paint. Once again, inspiration can be found quickly online. Once you have an idea of what you want to create, the fun becomes endless. Even if you mess up, all you have to do is peel off that piece of model magic or squish it back together to sculpt it. When you are satisfied with your creation, all it needs to do is air-dry until firm. Model magic can be purchased at your local craft store, such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels. 

Overall, if you’re looking to get off your phone and have an engaging summer, these activities are perfect. While many of them will need a device for inspiration or for a tutorial, once you get the hang of the craft, they are easily done offline. Feel free to try out all of these activities and enjoy a phone-free summer!

Links:

• Patchwork clothes – https://www.cozylace.com/blog/patchwork-hoodie/ 
• String bracelets – https://theneonteaparty.com/friendship-bracelets/
• Bracelet designs  – Braceletbook.com
• Beaded embroidery – https://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/bead-embroidery-tutorial/
• Crocheting – https://crocheting101.com/ 
• Beaded keychains – https://www.funcraftpatterns.com/free-bead-patterns.asp

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Every May, AP testing takes over Mountain Lakes High School. “AP U.S. History score calculator” suddenly has hundreds of viewers on the site daily and, no matter how prepared someone feels walking in, they always leave feeling nervous. In light of these events, The Mountaineer team thought it would be nice to conduct an in-person survey, asking AP students what their experience was like and what advice they could give to future students (even themselves).

For this survey, we interviewed a few people who took multiple AP tests and they shared their perspective. Although it does not holistically represent all MLHS students, it does give us a good insight into what AP testing week looks like for AP students. All participants consented to doing an interview and they understood that their responses were recorded. The names of the following participants are kept anonymous.

Interviews

One junior, who took AP U.S. History, AP Physics, AP English Language, AP Calc BC and AP Research noted that their experience was “surprisingly calm.” They thought the tests were easier this year, especially some of the multiple choice questions. That seemed to be a common theme. However, they told me that when some of the FRQs were released afterwards, they felt less confident in their answers especially after their teacher went over them. Their biggest exam advice was to not think about the exam too much after you take it since it could cause more nerves. “At this point, there is nothing you can do. So just relax,” they told us.

Another student, who took AP U.S. History and AP English Language, told me that they did not study that much before the tests because they had sports obligations that they needed to go to. They said that they tried to get as much studying in beforehand but were extremely tired after practices. Their biggest piece of exam advice was to start studying earlier, especially if you know that “you are going to have stuff to do during the [AP testing] week.” 

Some students also mentioned their strategies while taking the test itself. One student, who took AP Seminar and AP World History, mentioned that the time limit was difficult for them to manage well. They told me that, oftentimes, they would run out of time on a section (during their AP World exam) and would need to rush to finish their responses. Their biggest piece of advice was to make sure to “write whatever you can.” Since AP tests score you with partial credit on many of the FRQs, writing down something can end up helping significantly in the long run.

Conclusion

Although AP tests will probably never be a student’s favorite part of the school year, the experiences shared can certainly help everyone make this time period more manageable in the future. At the end of the day, any score is worth applauding since you took a hard course and challenged yourself with the curriculum. Hopefully the scores are what you wanted and get ready for summer!

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Hmmm, let’s see, what could this obsession be about? The sport of hockey itself? The actors? The plot? Either way, there is an undeniable epidemic of hockey shows taking over the film industry, and the trend shows no signs of stopping.

The most recent hockey show is Off Campus. Debuting on Prime Video on May 13, 2026, the show has become the newest addiction for hockey and non-hockey fans alike. Again, based on a series of novels, these written by Elle Kennedy, Off Campus has even set a record on Rotten Tomatoes, as reported by Forbes Magazine: “‘Off Campus’ Has Set A Rotten Tomatoes Score Record For The Past Year.” With a 96% critic score and a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Off Campus even tops the scores of Heated Rivalry. Drawing parallels to the known and loved movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Off Campus begins with a “fake dating” deal, where the hockey star Garrett will be the pretend boyfriend of Hannah in exchange for her tutoring him for their philosophy class. This show isn’t all fluff, however. Also discussing heavy topics, such as sexual assault, Off Campus opens up these struggles and gives representation to them in the media. It’s no wonder Off Campus has such high ratings when it’s dealing with real-world issues in a way that makes individuals feel seen.

Heated Rivalry this and Off Campus that. Either way, these shows have made massive impacts on the world we live in today, and I’d be willing to bet that hockey viewership has seen benefits as well. As the BBC reports, “Heated Rivalry TV Drama Sparks New Wave of Ice Hockey Fans.”

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The rapid development of social media has been one of the biggest technological achievements of the 21st century, but most people fail to realize it is rotting your brain every second you spend scrolling. Follow along as we discover how social media affects your attention span.

How Does Social Media Affect Cognitive Function?

The human brain is a powerhouse of receptors and processors, including your dopamine receptors. Think of dopamine receptors as the “feel-good center”. They absorb dopamine molecules and as a response, a sense of pleasure is rewarded to the brain. Yet, these receptors are very sensitive… if they are abused with a constant release of pleasure, the threshold for that pleasurable experience gets gradually higher. However it takes months, even years to notice the changes. This is where short-form content comes in. 

Apps such as Instagram, FaceBook, and TikTok are some of the largest platforms in the US, yet they have single-handedly ruined people’s attention spans without any repercussions whatsoever. Short-form content, by nature, encourages quick-shifts in focus, making long-term tasks seem impossible. This is achieved by how this short-form content affects the dopamine receptors; when scrolling on these apps, with each scroll, the brain releases dopamine. In turn, this increases the threshold for dopamine release and simultaneously damages your attention span. 

The Testimonies

Studies have shown that 67.6% of short-form content users find it harder to concentrate on longer-form tasks, which goes to show how much of an impact daily scrolling can have on the brain’s dopamine receptors. When the brain finds it hard to do even simple tasks such as washing dishes or doing laundry, change must be in effect to revert the effects before it’s too late. 

Another study has shown, as reported by PhD professors working with the American Psychological Association, that between 2004 and 2023, the average attention span among all social media users has dropped from 2.5 minutes per task, to 47 seconds per task as of 2023! This doesn’t happen for no reason, and social media is to blame for this significant drop.

 Attention span is a strong negative correlation, meaning when one factor increases, another drops simultaneously. This refers especially to decreased attention span, and heightened stress levels. When the brain gets pressured, specifically when scrolling on social media, a mass influx of dopamine from scrolling leads to the heightened stress levels. Consequently, when heightened stress levels occur, so does worsened mood; as a result, the brain is stripped of mental resources required for real-world engagement.

Rejuvenating Your Attention Span

It may seem scary to notice your attention span drop in real time, but do not worry, it’s easier to repair your attention span than damage it. I wouldn’t even say it’s repairing your attention span, but rather managing it. 

You can manage this not by immediate cessation, but instead using it during breaks, and by setting mini-goals with your work first to naturally activate your dopamine receptors.

My advice, do the easy things right. When you notice yourself drifting off during work, catch it and put your phone down before you go down an endless pit of scrolling. It’s not about forcing yourself to focus harder, but about controlling the small habits that quietly destroy your attention.

The Little Things

Ultimately, social media is not inherently harmful, but the way we use it is. The constant stream of dopamine to our brain is doing more harm than good, and expecting gratification only makes it harder to engage with actual tasks that require focus and attention. 

On a lighter note, the good news is that attention span isn’t permanently lost; it is shaped by the habits around it. By becoming more aware of how harmful social media can be, we can regain control over our focus. In a world that requires focus, the first step is to put down social media. 

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Athletes are some of the most enduring and tough people you can meet. They are constantly required to perform at the highest level, yet that can be extremely difficult if recovery is not addressed. If you are committed to a sport, yes, performance should be your top priority, but performance goes far beyond your physical play. Believe it or not, how you recover is vastly more important than how you perform during your matches. 

Recovery Methods and The Science:

The next best method, also very accessible, is massaging. Whether it’s done by a medical professional or performed with a massage gun, massaging provides a hyper-efficient, yet slightly painful, method of recovery. A 2022 study from the Frontier Journal found that massaging significantly decreases soreness by improving blood circulation. Yet, although massaging heavily reduces inflammation and soreness, it has few real long-term enhancements, only a handful of short-term effects such as decreased stiffness and looser muscles. All of which require long-term treatment to make a significant difference. However, massaging is one of the most effective forms of recovery, especially for high-octane athletes such as basketball and football players. Hence, massaging, when in the right hands, can be one of the most invaluable forms of recovery. 

The Final Stretch

Even elite athletes often neglect recovery, which only leads to harmed performance over time. When unconfronted, athletes tend to stiffen up, and getting back to healthy shape only gets harder from there. Now, with the unprecedented technology that only makes recovery easier, there is no better time to focus on recovery. Because if it’s never evaluated, your body 30 years from now will suffer from limited mobility and a multitude of preventable injuries that could’ve been avoided with proper recovery today.

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A menu is the first thing anyone is greeted with when they arrive at a restaurant and sit down. Sometimes, it takes the form of a touch-screen board. Other times, it takes the form of a fancy, paper menu. In fact, an often overlooked element of a restaurant is the menu itself. We typically think that certain restaurants, restaurants that have been in business for decades (fast food or sit-down), keep their old traditions and items, creating foods that thousands and even millions enjoy to this day. And although their standards may remain the same, a restaurant’s menu is not static, fluctuating in price and changing its medium over the course of many years. With that in mind, it may be time to change the menu one more time.

For many, a menu is easy to use. Look through the choices and pick the one you crave the most. Simple. Neutral. Unfortunately, a menu is only effective if it is understandable or even readable. For many individuals who are low vision or blind, this may become an impossible task. In truth, reading the fine print for the ingredients is already a challenge for most. Let’s be honest: who really understands what a sweated onion is? Thus, it should come as no surprise that blind people, who have to overcome both barriers, fail to get all the necessary information and need help from others to order. That diminishes their own personal autonomy and agency. 

So what can be done to truly help those who struggle to perform seemingly easy tasks, like reading a menu? Restaurants can begin by training staff members on how to handle the situation if a blind or low vision customer comes. According to the NIH, 1.2 million people living in the U.S today are legally blind. This means that it would be worthwhile to teach staff members Braille and train them in the event that a blind person visits their restaurant. Moreover, as a tangible solution, restaurants can begin to implement Braille menus. For example, using a local restaurant as an example, Hapgoods has implemented a Braille menu to cater to those who need it. Not only has the menu helped those who are blind, but it also allows people who are low vision or older to read the menu items because of the larger text. 

However, even with these solutions, most businesses are not given an incentive to implement them. Admittedly, for most, it may be seen as a hassle. Many restaurants are just trying to stay afloat, and adding more rules and requirements may be a burden for them. This is exactly where legal policies can step in. For starters, local and federal governmental agencies could offer tax reductions for those who abide by ADA accessibility guidelines. By offering more reductions, it may encourage a more widespread adoption of these menus.

Furthermore, running a successful business often requires expansion and renovation. Therefore, the government can build on existing policies that allow for “fast track renovation” (functionally speeding up the time it takes for grants to be permitted), incentivizing the business to follow regulations established for PWDs (people with disabilities). 

 Menus should not be a barrier to independence. By adopting accessible formats like Braille, and strengthening incentives through policy, restaurants can create a more inclusive dining experience for all customers.

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