12:05: End of 5th period; time to go to your locker and go home for 6th period lunch.
12:10: Pull out of your sweet front-row parking space, show Mr. Dolan your senior ID and drive off campus. Freedom at last.
12:17: Home. Cue throwing off your shoes and Mom getting out the peanut butter sandwich ingredients.
12:30: Mmmm…those sandwiches are timeless. Time to lay on the couch, digest, and watch a “Boy Meets World” rerun.
12:45: Well, that was a relaxing break. Time to get back behind that steering wheel and venture back to school.
12:50: No parking spots in the front of the school; that’s okay.
12:52: No parking spots in the middle of the parking lot…Still alright, don’t panic. It’s only a five-minute walk from the tennis courts.
12: 54: No tennis court parking spots. Uh oh. Cue mini heart attack.
Does this situation sound a little exaggerated? Not to any LHS senior who has gone out for lunch release this year. For us, this is a daily occurrence.
It is common knowledge that seniors get on-campus parking and the privilege of lunch release, and how convenient, right? You get to park on campus and have easy access to a vehicle to drive home or go out to lunch with. However, by the time one gets back to school, he/she has to fight tooth and nail for a parking spot.
And hey, at least those seniors get the option of fighting tooth and nail for a parking spot on LHS ground; some seniors are stuck at Brainerd.
It’s no secret that our parking system is flawed. What a major disappointment it is when senior year comes around and you realize that not only do your classes not consist of amusement parks and cotton candy, but you also don’t even get the most basic of senior benefits.
Things need to change.
My solution? Simply number the parking spots. When a senior purchases one (which are first come, first serve), give them a specific spot. For example, one student would get parking spot #1, which would be the first spot in the first row of parking spots at the main entrance of the school. The second person, purchasing spot #2, would get the spot next to the first. It’s not a complicated plan, especially since the spots are numbered anyway. All the school has to do is assign the students a specific spot corresponding with their number. This would add about 10 minutes to our lunch time since we wouldn’t have to worry about getting back in time to search for a parking spot.
Some might say, “What if I get a spot in the back of the school? That’s no good.” Well, I think if you ask any of the seniors who are stuck parking at Brainerd and Nicholas Dowden their last year of high school, they would say you’re pretty lucky.
And besides, if it’s first come, first serve, the last ones to purchase a spot would get the ones in the back, which would still be very fortunate considering the Studio Theatre doors are open and it’s less than a five-minute walk from the furthest spot.
Things don’t change unless we change them. All I’m asking for is a solution to a long-standing problem and this one does not require us to start building on the lake.
photo by Gina Smith