Opinion
The Cougar Press Page Seven
“Senior” parking lot-really for seniors? Hannah Lee Every year, the parking lot is a hot topic amongst VHS students, and this year is no different. Just in the first few weeks of school alone, it is evident that my fellow seniors are unhappy with the parking lot situation -and rightfully so. I myself am no stranger to having to walk all the way up to the upper lot, because last year every junior had to do it and it was strictly enforced. No question about it, walking up to the
upper lot is inconvenient. However, all students except for seniors have a locker. As seniors, we are expected to use our cars as our lockers, so having to walk all the way up to the upper lot with only a six minute passing period is simply not reasonable. The only option seniors have to obtain a locker is to put their information on a waiting list. Waiting list lockers are nearly impossible to obtain because the school gives priority to seniors who don’t have cars. The whole parking lot situation is a big deal for
seniors, especially because of our inability to get a locker. Juniors and other students should understand the importance of allowing the lower lot to be just for seniors. Senior Amanda Malotte agrees that the lower lot should be strictly for seniors, “It was a rule last year and they stressed it so much! So the used-tobe juniors should have the same privilege the seniors before us had.” Not only is this a problem for seniors who start first period, but as senior Talya Belgin stated
Photo by: Hannah Lee
Belgin (left) and Malotte (right) both believe that seniors should have priority parking in the lower lot.
in reference to those who arrive later for a second period, “[not having enough parking spaces available] pushes seniors to park wherever they want, which was a big problem last year.”
The juniors will get their chance to park in the lower lot when they are seniors. But for now, they should just enjoy being upperclassmen and walk to the upper lot.
Too much snark over where to park Summer Yovanno Two years ago, ASB president Christian Walk made a new parking lot rule: ‘seniors have priority over the lower lot, leaving the upper lot to the juniors.’ With this rule in play, obviously the juniors were irritated over having to walk farther than the seniors in order to reach their car. However, seniors thought the rule made a lot of sense and agreed with Walk’s policy. Lockers aren’t provided for students in their senior year,
making cars the a perfect place to stash those heavy textbooks they receive. The lower lot is closer to the school, making it more convenient than the upper lot. Juniors only really need to go back to their car if they want to leave the school because they have lockers to keep their necessary items in; therefore, for the convenience of the seniors, priority of the lower lot deserves to go to them. The ASB representatives of last year’s senior class have decided to go back the old parking system ‘first
come first serve’. This decision has brought up controversy, particularly among seniors. The seniors’ disagreement is understandable considering that last year, as juniors, they had to put up with Walk’s parking system. This year’s juniors, however, have the mindset of ‘the early bird gets the worm,’ and are confused about why seniors get irritated when they take the lower lot parking spots. If seniors are really dedicated to getting their lower lot parking spot, they should arrive earlier to school,
unless they want to sign a petition against last year’s ASB representative’s decision, or try to convince the whole junior class to park in the upper lot.
Throughout this school year, I can’t predict what’s going to happen with the parking situation, but hopefully we’ll find some sort of compromise.
Photo by: Hailey Cox Junior Archer Herring says, “I was walking in the [parking] lot and when I walked past a senior and she told me ‘y’all better stop parking in the lower lot’ and I just ignored her”
Stop antagonizing test-takers people who haven’t, know that there are four parts to the SAT: reading, writing & language, math As students progress with no calculator, and math with throughout their high school a calculator. career, many become very As much as I was familiar with an organization shocked by this mind game being known as the College Board. The played by the College Board, the College Board provides students mysterious fifth section on some with various resources, such as SAT exams has also shocked the constructing plans for college, or internet. According to Valerie registering for an SAT exam. However, I was particularly angered with The College Board as I was taking my SAT exam on the morning of Saturday August 26. Now throughout high school, I’ve had my fair share of SAT’s and PSAT’s, including the SAT with essay. What appeared on my most recent SAT however was something I’d not been prepared for, nor did I imagine to show up… a fifth section? Now everyone who’s College board slaps taken an SAT, and even some Brooke Newman
Strauss from The Washington Post, on February 4, the College Board quietly let out information at an SAT session in Boston that some students would be required to complete a fifth multiple choice section. Not only is this just absolutely absurd that the College Board would randomly release a surprise fifth section to what is Illustration by: Kai Torres
students in the face
supposed to be a standardized test, but also the fact that only some test-takers get a fifth section. I know the College Board has the intention to prepare students for college, but this is just devious. It’s also very suspicious that the College Board offers no means to study for this fifth section, and that despite a very vague and somewhat “public’ statement, they try to withhold this knowledge from test-takers. Don’t we at least have the right to know!? It’s as if we not only paid money, but put in time and energy to participate in a college board experiment. Had I been asked to participate in an experimental section for the greater good of furthering research, I wouldn’t have had any issues, however, the fact that the College Board tried to pull a fast one on me really grinds my gears. The difference between
operational questions and pretest questions is that operational exam questions affect your score and pretest exam questions do not. The College Board however, has yet to release any information on whether or not the exam questions on the fifth section are operational or pretest. So just when you thought the new SAT was actually quite different, the experimental questions appear again, however this time, they appear under the test-takers radar. As for now with the lack of information provided by the College Board, I’ll have to wait until September to see if the fifth section impacted my score or not. My advice to test takers though would be that, in order to avoid the potentiality of taking a mysterious fifth section, you can pay more money take the SAT essay. Or, you can remain a guinea pig to the College Board just as I, and thousands of students across the nation are.