As both a water polo player and a swimmer, I spend a lot of time at Tam’s pool. Every day after school during the fall and spring, I drive my car to the pool to park my car before heading to practice. At this time, the pool parking lot (also known as the staff parking lot) is chaotic, as impatient parents scurry around looking for their kids and clogging the entire area. I observe a similar scene as I drive by in the morning. However, during the lunch hour this parking lot is almost half empty. Parking at Tam is awful for students, and the lack of spaces results in stress and tardies. As a student who is simply fed up with five minute walks to class at the beginning of school and the end of lunch, I ask the school to consider my following humble request: please forbid parents from dropping off their kids at the staff lot and instead, allow access for student parking.

The most common reason I hear for the ban of student parking in the staff lot is that the school doesn’t want to deal with the possibility of students crashing into staff. I admit that teenagers aren’t exactly the most careful of drivers, but the staff lot is far and away the safest, easiest place to park around Tam. There is only one direction that traffic can flow, the spaces are wide, and there are no opportunities for students to squeeze their car into non-existent places like with Stadium Avenue and the Back Parking Lot (BPL). Additionally, the staff lot is extremely simple to patrol. Just by standing near the stairs of the pool, one can see the entire lot and easily regulate any suspicious student activity. The staff lot could offer a safer alternative to the reckless parking sites of Stadium and the BPL.

Most importantly, however, Tam students should be allowed access to the pool lot because it could save us from large amounts of stress and tardies. There is no worse feeling than having to rush through breakfast or lunch only to arrive at Tam and realize that there are no spots left. This dilemma results in one of two things. Either a very illegal or risky attempt at parking in a “space” is made, or one is forced to undertake a tedious treck to Tam. The attempt at parking in the “space” tends to result in a parking job that makes it on to the “Excellent Parking by Tam Students” Facebook page. As the page demonstrates, these parking jobs are unsafe, can make it hard for others to leave, and may result in a ticket. After making one of these attempts, sitting in class consists of fearfully wondering in if you will be hit by another car (or as students would say, “bapped”), ticketed, or even towed. Then, there are the times you just have to park what seems like miles away. I’m talking fieldhouse and beyond. These spots are guaranteed to come with a tardy and a dirty look from your teacher.

On many days, especially during lunch when there is less regulation, I have successfully snuck into a spot in the staff lot. However, on other occasions I have been caught red-handed and asked to park somewhere else. Driving away from a quiet lot, with a surplus of spots is a hard thing to do as a student. Although access to the staff lot would not completely solve the problem of our parking shortage, it would certainly help it. I think it is time us students get a break in parking, for once. I think it is time that we park in the pool parking lot.