As the school year nears the halfway mark, it is becoming more and more common to witness adolescent homo sapiens locked in territorial disputes over parking spaces. As the cars’ habitat has been destroyed by industrialization, the competition for parking spots is more apparent. Senior Bret Yarger has seen this struggle worsen over the last four years.
“Most mornings you can’t even find a place to park. More accidents have been caused in the parking lot this year than any other year in the past four years that I have been here,” said Yarger.
Senior Sarah Parker also agrees that the Rolla High School parking situation has become more and more of a nuisance.
“Since my time at the RHS it has definitely gotten worse. When I started [high school], we were doing hybrid, so there weren’t as many people. But now that we’re all here [it’s gotten worse]. And of course we have the construction, which has played a huge part,” said Parker.
According to assistant principal Josh Smith, administrative records show that the number of parking passes purchased increases as more sophomores get their licenses throughout the year. Towards the end of the year when it is the most full, there are still always spots available in the old gravel lot. With such abnormally large sophomore and freshman classes, students wonder whether or not this will hold true for this year.
“I know that some people have had to park in teachers’ spots because they’re not being used. And it’s hard to park far away because a lot of people, myself included, have to go to a job right after school, and there’s not much time to get there. Especially if you add waiting time in there to leave the parking lot,” said Parker.
This conflict will likely be eased after the opening of new parking areas, but for now, there is little students can do to guarantee a consistent parking spot that allows easy entry and exit.
“This is a very big inconvenience because people have to park in non-parking spaces which cause the parking lot to be very packed,” said Yarger.
An average of 400-425 parking passes are sold each year. So far, 318 have been purchased this year. The limit for passes, which is 500, hasn’t been reached in decades. Students, however, are still consistently struggling to hunt down an empty space.
“I think a thing that could help is taking away a few of those teacher spots that are never being used,” suggested Parker.
Yarger, on the other hand, maintains that the best course of action is to assign different parking lots to each grade.
“Seniors need to have their own personal parking spaces!” demanded Yarger. “Also, [the administration] needs to number each and every parking space!”
This hierarchical system might have merit for those who find themselves anxiously circling the parking lots every morning. It will also confirm that there are, in fact, at least as many parking spots as parking spot hunters.
“One thing I want to add is that in no way am I blaming the administration,” said Parker. “I’m sure that they’re just as frustrated as we are, and are doing the best they can with what they have.”
