This year, due to construction, many changes have been made at CHS. One of these changes is that now only seniors are allowed to park on campus.

This rule has been made because the new gym is being built in the parking lot near the football field, so now the only parking available for students is in the parking lot next to the auditorium. This rule has clearly outraged many juniors as this is the first time in a while that juniors haven’t been able to park.

Junior, Rob Berry, says, “Last year the juniors and seniors fit even when they started construction.” This is a very valid point in the eyes of this year’s juniors.

For juniors who drive, there are three different options they have: 1. Just not drive to school, 2. Park off campus, or 3. Drive to school and park on campus anyway. A junior that goes with the first option is John Evans who claims, “I’m scared the seniors will hurt me if I park.” There are also others who aren’t too interested in the rule, such as juniors who do not have their licenses or a car.

Junior Jake Sanchez has chosen the second option. On this he says, “I have to walk like a mile after I park.”

This situation is not ideal for him or anyone who has chosen to park off campus. An easy solution is to just take the bus, which seems a better alternative over parking off campus as you may have to walk a good distance to the school. However, this is the only option for juniors that drive to park anywhere according to the school. Current CHS students may have to adapt to parking of campus because the “no junior parking” is rumored to be a permanent rule that the school will put in affect and last for years to come.

Then there’s always the rebels that will not follow the rules either to prove a point or just simply because they are not scared of the repercussions. For an anonymous junior parker, it was never a second thought  when deciding whether or not to park on campus. On why this person parks here, the junior parker shared that, “I park anyway because I don’t care.”

One may see this as very arrogant or naïve, but so far the school has taken no action against them. So while one can park off campus, it is clear that the school has not done anything yet to those rebellious juniors who decide to park anyway. This anonymous parker says that it should be “first come first serve for the juniors.”

Some days, there are more than enough open spots open for at least a good amount of juniors to park.

The parking situation altogether is one of perspective. Although many think that there are easy solutions, it is most likely more difficult to let a certain amount of juniors park, rather than none at all. The current juniors are concerned about this issue, the seniors and freshmen however, not so much. As Mike P. O’Brien points out, when he’s a senior he’ll be excited to drive to school but, won’t really care about the junior parking situation.

While parking on campus may seem like a small issue from afar, it is not to many high school students who have just recently gotten their licenses, such as this year’s juniors. It is clear that not all juniors are mad about this new policy, but I speak for the majority of them in saying that they are upset by this rule.

Some juniors don’t even know this rule is permanent as junior, O’Brien, says, “the juniors are lucky next year because they can park.”

The school definitely needs to get more on top of this and establish it as a real rule if they’re going to follow through with it.