She had the very first spot near door sixteen. It was the golden spot, a true luck of the draw for alumnus Ashley Pietrusiak when she drove to school as a senior.

Though she never considered how other people would take advantage of that wondrous open space, and park in it even though it wasn’t theirs for parking in.

It was a month into Pietrusiak’s senior year. This was her second year driving to school and had never had parking issues before.

“I pulled into the parking lot,” said Pietrusiak, “and someone had parked in my spot. My spot!”

She took the next open spot, about fifteen spaces down, and marched straight to the office.

“I went to the main office and told them, and it took them awhile, but they tracked down the person and I think they wrote him up,” said Pietrusiak, “and of course they made him move.”

Pietrusiak nearly missed her entire first hour class in all the trouble to get that student moved and then parked back in her own spot.

“It was such a pain when it happened,” said Pietrusiak. “What’s worse was that it happened twice that year!”

In mid-January when Pietrusiak came to school slightly late, someone had again parked in her spot. This time she was not as okay with it as before, considering the cold weather and that this was the second time it happened.

“I resolved the problem—yet again—but it still annoyed me,” said Pietrusiak.

Last year and for the entire history of Huntley High School, students have had nothing other than the routine assigned parking. Now, there is free-for-all parking, a new policy that the student’s have never seen before.

Situations like Pietrusiak’s are the exact reasons that they changed the policy, to avoid students that were not parking in their spot.

Students used to try and buy their parking passes early in order to get to choose from a pool of generally decent spots. If a student bought one late, tough luck, because all spots have been taken.

If students this year want a close spot to beat the buses after school, they will get there early. It is better to choose rather than hoping to get the good spots.

“Students who didn’t have issues with people taking their spots didn’t mind assigned parking,” said Pietrusiak, “but then there were the people like me that hated it.”

The parking lot attendants have a weight lifted off their shoulders too. They do not have to deal with the students who do not park in accordance with their spots.

It is much more tedious to go through a list of parking numbers and license plates and make sure they are all in order.

“Lucky for the students now who get the free-for-all parking,” said Pietrusiak, “I wish I had had that.”

It would have made things a lot easier for Pietrusiak.

In the summer, students who have driven the year before were quick to assume that this new policy would only cause more problems. They’re finding, though, was that it makes things spacious and easier for the drivers and the school alike.

Students can now pull into the parking lot, and take their pick. They might get lucky with a close open parking space.

Post Author: Kayla Garcia. Kayla Garcia is a junior at Huntley High School, and is a staff writer for the Voice. She loves to write and is on the tennis team, and is planning on playing in college. Kayla enjoys to be a part of the schools newspaper.