It is 6:35 a.m. on a regular Tuesday morning and junior Safia Gaziuddin is already walking out the front door of her house, heading towards her car. She notices the dew in the grass and the pink to baby blue color of the sunrise. She unlocks the driver door, revs up the engine and turns the ignition
Gaziuddin takes her usual route through the Del Webb neighborhood in order to avoid the long wait at the light on Route 47.
She arrives to school at 6:50 a.m. every day and parks in her favorite spot right outside door 22. She repeats the “turning on” process, but this time backwards: turns the ignition, listens to the engine die down, opens the car door and steps out.
She looks at the digital clock above her car stereo one more time and it blinks 6:52 a.m.
Now, her day has officially begun.
By the time she arrives at the school there are only a small amount of cars scattered around the parking lot.
Ten minutes later, the lot is streaming with activity. Cars driven by upperclassmen file in all searching for parking spots preferably closer to the school doors.
At the same time, Gaziuddin is already sitting inside the school library working on unfinished homework from the previous night.
“I know my day is successful when I get to school before the buses,” said Gaziuddin.
The phrase “early bird gets the worm” is perfect to describe this situation. Students who wake up and leave to school earlier get better spots, meaning they have the advantage of parking next to the lot’s exit. The morning parking is beneficial for those who want to make a speedy exit when the last bell rings in the afternoon.
Linda Depa, dean secretary and permit parking addresser, advises students to wake up a few minutes earlier everyday if they prefer better parking locations.
“Get here earlier,” said Linda Depa, dean secretary. “The earlier you arrive, the better the spots.”
The change was decided by the administration team. They held the student’s needs in mind and so far it is successfully working. At the end of the day there are still 130 parking spots open for use.
“It is no different than going to the mall,” said Depa. “You get there and choose a spot. If you arrive at school at a reasonable time, then you have array of better choices.”It is just the little problems that induced a large amount of nagging from students.Occasionally complaints are heard at the dean’s office, but not on a daily basis.
“The students are doing fine,” said Chris Duncan, the high school’s dean and parking organizer. “You park wherever you want; if you can park close to the school then you park there. If you don’t, then you don’t.” Student parking is nothing worth complaining about. In the long run, it is beneficial for the students who wake up at an earlier hour. For those students who do not, waking up a few minutes earlier will make all the difference.
Post Author: Yazmin Dominguez.
Yazmin Dominguez is a junior at Huntley High School(obviously) and is a staff writer in the HHS Newspaper. Her various extra curricular activities include being a teen journalist at The Mash newspaper, kick-boxer, active member in peer jury, peer ministry youth leader, and president of Baking Club (Wooo! :-)) When not doing anything school related (which is rare) she is spacing out, petting her two wonderful dogs, on Facebook, acting silly with friends, avoiding awkward moments or cracking Thats What She Said jokes. Yazmin enjoys being chill and not being told what to do. :]
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