At Ramapo High School, the seniors have an annual, heavy debate about the different parking lots available. When it comes time to enter senior year, each senior must choose if they want to be placed in a lottery for an upper lot spot or choose to park in a lower lot behind the football field. This topic always seems to be a huge deal for the Ramapo senior class. Students will hear about their parking information normally before they learn their school schedule. With this comes many issues.
For upper lot seniors who come in at the normal time each morning, 7:35, they must deal with the morning and after-school traffic. This traffic can be treacherous and can take up to 15 minutes to get around. Yet, after they are parked in their assigned spots they have an easy commute and get to take a short walk into the building.
As for students who are assigned lower lot spots, they do not have traffic and have an easy drive to school. Although they miss the fun of waiting in a line of cars, they have to journey up the hill from the parking lot to get to school. This five-minute walk can be hard to complete with the different weather conditions in the area. It can be raining, freezing or so hot out but these kids still have to walk up and down the hill and across the field to get to their cars.
I spoke to a few different students at Ramapo about their parking spaces and how they feel about the upper and lower lot. Jenna Murrary said, “At first I was annoyed with having lower lot, until I realized how much earlier I get out compared to upper lot people since we don’t have traffic.” The school traffic is a hard thing to deal with and something most students deal with for their first three years of high school. But when it comes to the fourth year, students become tired of having to wake up and leave the house early so that the traffic doesn’t cause them to be late.
While discussing this topic at my lunch table, I spoke to Ayla Abtahi, a senior who parks in the lower lot and complained, “If you do not have late arrival or early dismissal as a senior, you should definitely take lower lot so you don’t have to wait in lines. If you have both take upper it will make your life easier with walking in and out.”
Sam Dotti, a senior who parks in the lower lot, comments, “I now get to go to Starbucks before school and I am never late since I don’t hit traffic from lower lot.”
Even a few security guards from Ramapo have heard this debate about which is “better” and where most seniors prefer to park. Speaking to a few of the security guards they all have the opinion that parking in the lower lot is better since the traffic up by the main entrance is crazy backed up.
Overall, the ongoing debate about upper and lower lots hold many opposing opinions based on the pros and cons that each parking spot has to deal with. Depending on your schedule as a senior these two different lots can make or break the time, traffic, and stress that you may have driving into or out of school.
