Nothing clogs up our parking lot faster than underclassmen who just got their licenses and think they are exceptions to the “permits only in the lot” rule. 

All seniors and only select juniors are sold a parking pass. Students picked up their parking permits Monday, Aug. 19. Since they’ve paid their dues, they deserve the parking spots.  

Parking spots are limited, and upperclassmen have waited years for the privilege of avoiding the long walk from the neighborhood. The underclassmen ignoring these rules and inconveniencing students who actually have passes creates problems, and let’s face it, they haven’t earned their spot yet—literally.

“I’m a senior. I have first period off, and I spend about five extra minutes looking for a spot that ends up being in the very back of the lot or a fake parking spot at the end of the row,”  Bella Oakes ‘25 said. “Today, I even had to roll my window down and start asking people if they were leaving.”

Passes have been a problem since I was a freshman, and probably long before. As an underclassman, I was quite honestly afraid to disrespect seniors who were not only much older than me, but also had a lot more street cred at the school.  That’s just how it’s always been. 

But for some reason, sophomores now seem to think taking our spots without any consequences is perfectly fine. 

Along with the whole respect thing, I can say firsthand that seniors already have problems showing up to their final weeks of school, and wasting time trying to find somewhere to even park does not help. 

“When I get to school and spend several minutes searching for a parking spot, only to see sophomores parked in the very front of senior row without a pass, it makes me want to turn around and go right back home,” Ella McNitt ‘25 said. 

I hate to be a sickler for rules because I know good and well the walk from the neighborhood, especially in the snow or rain, is miserable, but the disrespect and entitlement from drivers who can’t even legally have more then one passenger in their car is infuriating- and I can speak for the entire senior class when I say we are fed up. 

“When I’m walking to class, usually late after I waste my time trying to find a spot, I end up passing five or six cars that are parked nearly front row without a pass,” Oakes said. 

With no progress on building another parking lot, it’s time we crack down on these rules and impose punishments that deter underclassmen from taking up room. 

There are even good ideas coming from sophomores themselves. 

“I’d get it more if the juniors or seniors had assigned spots. They could even decorate or paint them,” Brittan Booth  ‘27 said. 

At a very affluent school like Rock Canyon, a $20 fine is nothing but a small inconvenience to students. A majority of the time, the rule violators aren’t even caught. The reason so many students decide to break the rule is that they can afford it. 

“There’s no other place for us to park. If we park at the church or in the neighborhood, then it’s real tickets from the police. So it’s a lose-lose situation,” Addi Wood ‘27 said. 

Seniors aren’t the only ones fed up with the rule breakers, either. Security guards take turns randomly going to the student lot to write tickets to cars without passes. JT Adams has been at Rock Canyon for 10 years and, along with the rest of the campus security team, has thought of another way to solve the parking issue.

“If it passes, we would start putting some boots on cars. It’s gonna cost like a 100 or something dollars to get that boot off and they won’t be doing it again,” said Adams. The motivation comes from sympathy, “I know that can be frustrating. You pay for the parking spot, you wanna get the parking spot.” 

So let’s either start assigning spots or cracking down with harsher punishments, Rock Canyon, and to the underclassmen who park in the lot, or better yet, senior row, park where you are supposed to and know you aren’t just stealing spots, you’re stealing patience.