Imagine this. It’s summer before your senior year and you get the news about assigned parking. You get assigned a parking spot that in theory will take the stress off your shoulders, but your spot is the farthest from the school, basically in the junior lot. You are outraged because there are people who don’t even drive that have closer spots than you, so now you don’t have to worry about finding a spot in the morning; however,  if you get there early, it is pointless. This situation was the reality for the senior class of 2020, but now going into the new year, there is no longer assigned parking. The parking has shifted back to first come, first serve parking.

Senior Kallen Mitchell explains why she liked the assigned parking places and why it made her  morning commute much easier. She also notes that the school didn’t really pay too much attention to the idea and wasn’t careful with picking the parking spots. 

“I liked assigned [parking] because it alleviated the stress of trying to find a spot every morning, but the school could have paid more attention to who drove and who didn’t.” Mitchell said. 

 The stress-free privilege from assigned parking is gone, and some students think that they have to go to school early to get a good spot. 

“I try to get to school much earlier than I did before to try to find a spot because I don’t have mine waiting for me anymore. I get kinda jealous when I see someone parked in my old spot.” Mitchell said. 

On the other hand, senior Toni Oluwatade normally is early to school and says the parking change hasn’t really affected her.

 “It hasn’t affected me much because I’m usually a few minutes early to school, but sometimes when I leave campus for lunch, the spot I had parked in is taken and I have to search for a new one” Oluwatade said. 

One of the many senior privileges is leaving during lunch to go get food of their choice, but now seniors worry they won’t have a nice spot when the return. 

“ I prefer the assigned parking method because when I leave campus for lunch, I don’t have to worry about someone parking where I had parked earlier. With assigned parking, I don’t have to worry about the possibility of having to search for a spot if I’m in a hurry to school.” Oluwatade said. 

The argument whether you like the new first come first serve rule or whether you like the assigned parking is a biased argument. Your answer mostly depends on where your assigned parking spot was located.