A known problem at FHC for the upperclassmen is the school parking lot. Many students struggle to get in and out of the parking lot every day. With having such a vast amount of students, the parking lot, while it is big, cannot handle all of our students exiting at the same time. There are many issues with getting a “good spot” and leaving on time. Even when students rushed to their car after the bell, they are still waiting in the parking lot 20 minutes after dismissal.
Senior Alex Myers has a seventh-hour AP psychology class, which is conveniently placed right by the parking lot doors. Even with her close distance, she still has herself running from the doors to her car to leave in hopes that she will leave campus on time.
“I’m in Mrs Gronek’s seventh hour class, and everyone in that class runs to their car… I always see other students running around trying to get out faster,” Myers said.
At our school, we have a three-minute difference in dismissal time. Every other week, it alternates between the upper level and the lower level getting out three minutes early to try to help our dismissal process. Many students believe it does not help with the congestion. Along with that, there is only one exit per lot—the lot in the back of the school exits off the side of the building, and the student lot exits off the campus’s entrance. Junior Ethan Oketch has seen various problems with the car backup.
“Problems [are] an understatement, ever since I’ve been going here, there [have] been the same problems… The gate in the back of the student lot is always closed, which only leaves one exit for 100 students,” Oketch said.
Another thing we see a lot is hit-and-runs. Multiple students’ cars have been hit while driving or while their car is parked. The main problem causing this is during dismissal students line up to leave campus, but other students will cut them off instead of waiting. In a rush, many students have been hit. Due to the inexperienced student drivers that student drivers are most of them who have hit other cars get distracted by friends or their phones. Junior Samuel Golden has unfortunately been a victim of this.
“Right by the exit I was hit, it wasn’t [a hit and run] because it ended up being a pile up, all the cars got squished together. The main problem is people are on their phones while driving and then slam on their brakes,” Golden said.
The drivers who don’t pay attention end up causing others problems. While they unknowingly drive themselves home.
With the multiple problems of our lot, it makes driving to school an unpleasant experience. Some students purposely choose to drive and park somewhere close to school or drive and choose to ride the bus. It can become very frustrating and dangerous for the many new drivers to be crammed into the lot with a very small amount of wiggle room of time to leave.
