In the fall of 2015, the WHS parking lot system changed drastically. Instead of drawing a numbered spot out of the lottery, parking spots are now a free-for-all. There are no assigned spots, but this has caused controversy between student drivers.

Even though students have the ability to park in whichever lot they choose, many seniors are growing frustrated.

“I’m not happy. As a senior, I’ve waited four years for these spots and now they’re just taking away,” senior Katelyn Rand said. “Because of our privileges, we can come in late. But it’s not worth it if I have to walk that far in the cold and park in the junior lot. It feels like we’re being taken advantage of. I know last year they hazed people that [sat] in the senior section, but I don’t think we are at that level right now. Respect your elders.”

“When we were juniors we parked in the right parking lot,” senior Maddie Moran said. “That’s the way it always worked. We’ll be gone in 2 months, can’t the juniors just wait their turn?”

“We waited four years to park in the front row and now seniors are being forced to park in the back rows or the junior lot because the underclassmen are taking their spots,” senior Zack Ross said. “Also, underclassmen can’t even leave, so for seniors to have to walk to the back of the lot multiple times a day is very frustrating.”

Some juniors feel that they should be able to park in the “senior lot” despite their grade.

“If a spot is open, whoever is available should take it, and if there aren’t many seniors at a certain lunch, a junior should take [the parking spot],” junior Kobe Balson said. “I would be pissed [if a junior took our spot next year], but I’m a junior now, so I don’t care about the seniors.”

“I feel that there isn’t much of a problem at all. For me, as a junior, I park in the ‘senior lot’ and I’ve never been told not to,” junior Zack Dresens said. “But, I usually don’t park in the first two rows. Next year, I won’t be annoyed if juniors take my spot.”

On the other hand, some juniors still follow the old rules of the parking lot and believe in the system of seniority.

“I don’t think juniors should be taking seniors spots because [they are] not our spots, and when we are seniors we are going to want those spots,” junior Bobby Murray said. “We just have to wait our turn.”

Librarian Pam Miller prefers the old system in the parking lot.

“It would seem to me that when it was the lottery type your parking spot was saved if [seniors] came in after a first block free. I think that was the best way,” Miller said. “There is a pecking order in life. You come in as a freshman, you do certain things, you sit certain places and then you gradually work up to the place you have earned. At this point, this sense of entitlement [at a younger age] is not good.”