Having a place to park during school has always been a senior privilege; however, for the class of 2026, it has been a hassle to appreciate it. Whether it’s someone stealing your spot, seeing juniors take other spots, or snow being piled on your spot, it hasn’t been easy for the class of 2026. Seniors pay for a spot, get the privilege of a spot, and are guaranteed a spot after payment, but for the class of 2026, that guarantee has not been met.
Senior Ayla McCahon recently drove into school and found another student’s car parked in her spot. “I was honestly more mad,” said McCahon, “I paid for this spot, and suddenly someone takes it.” As a result, she had to take a spot next to her, belonging to another student, after informing said student that she had taken their spot. And after a later consultation, McCahon found that it was another senior who took her spot.
There are many reasons to take another person’s spot, and for senior Maisie Griffin, she had to park somewhere else because a giant pile of snow claimed her spot. Not only is it frustrating to not be allowed a parking space you paid for, but it is also more aggravating that it was placed there by your own school officials.
Getting snow off the streets is highly important to allow students to remain in school while there are weathering complications, but placing said snow in random areas creates larger problems, aggravates students, and creates a negative emotion even before stepping into a school building.
However, after finding a spot in the visitors parking lot, to Griffin’s surprise, two hours later, an email from administration came out proclaiming that all students whose spot was used as a snow pile could park in the visitors lot. Although it alleviated the probable ticket Griffin could have gotten, it sparked the realization for Griffin that “if they’re not going to call a snow day, don’t purposefully pile snow on students’ spots.”
Other complications, such as Juniors parking on campus, have confused many senior students because, to senior Ryan Needham, “our junior year, people actually got ticketed,” and to senior Cayden Bell, “our administration was more incentivized on catching Juniors trying to use a Senior privilege.”
An anonymous Norwood High Junior said, “The class of 2026 is the smallest in the school. If there are empty spots, why can’t we use them?”
An amazing question that both seniors and juniors of Norwood High would love to have answered.
