There are big and extreme changes being made for student drivers. We have had multiple roads being constructed, buildings demolished and a reconstructed and reorganized parking lot. The parking lot has been one of the biggest changes and readjustments for students. It comes with both pros and cons.
One of the big changes has been the perpendicular parking spots that might be a little tricky, especially for newer drivers. Dean of Students Chad Gross said, “At the beginning of the year, students struggled with perpendicular parking, but as the year is progressing, they have gotten a lot better.” I know that perpendicular parking had me struggling the first couple days. I kept parking on the line and sometimes even in two parking spots. A couple of students expressed how they feel about the sudden change in the parking style. Senior Justin Carpenter said “Parking spots aren’t big enough. My truck can’t fit in between the lines.”
Another substantial change has been merging. The parking lot has now been split in half so there are now people merging from both sides. I still struggle with it. Nobody lets me in, and when someone does, I get embarrassingly happy. Sometimes, I must cut, and most of the time when people notice me trying to cut, they pull up to the very back of the car in front of them just so I cannot get in. Gross said, “Students should let others merge.” All I personally would ask is to let other students merge before they have to wait for the buses. Some students said what they think about merging from both sides. Senior Andrew Gritt said, “Yeah that’s a safety hazard” that is when Carpenter jumped in saying, “Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of situations where either I or someone else has hit someone else trying to merge.” Yikes.
Just make sure you pay attention to the merging, encourage friends to be nice classmates and let others merge too. I would also practice perpendicular parking on the weekends or get a smaller car. One I would say is more preferable to the other, but I will let you figure that out for yourself.
