Walnut Hills High School
Volume CVIII, Issue 12
March 27, 2014
What’s the parking problem? Austin Douglas, ‘15
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX PERSIANI/CHATTERBOX
When students purchase a parking pass, they must register their vehicle’s model, year and color. In registering their vehicle, the student must agree to park only in student designated parking areas—Sulsar Ave, all of Lot C, in Lot E and the lower portion of Lot D—and acknowledge that failure to do so will result in disciplinary action.
All students who register their vehicles for on-campus parking sign a form stating that they have read the rules to parking on campus. If this is true, how can there be so much confusion with the parking situation? SENIOR Ashlee Larkins disagrees with how teachers get their own lot, the upper portion of Lot D. She said the current parking situation is “ridiculous” because “students deserve closer parking to the school.” The 2013-2014 Student and Parent Handbook says that “students are not permitted to park in faculty, staff and visitor parking areas during the school day.” The handbook also says that students with a parking permit who violate this policy can either receive warnings or get their permits revoked. Students parking on campus without a permit may receive either an in-school suspension or Friday evening school. SENIOR Emma Van Bakel usually parks in Lot D. Her routine has been interrupted, however, by a change in the parking policy. “Apparently now they’ve closed the upper half to students,” she said. “It wouldn’t bother me so much if it was made clear to the students, but saying it once on the announcements, which a lot of us can’t hear, isn’t enough.” Van Bakel said that the situation would have been easier for everyone, if “in addition to an announcement, flyers could be put on windshields around campus, or signs hung up around the halls like the ones reminding us of the flipped schedule.”
However, John Chambers, the 11th and 12th grade administrator, said that “we did make a morning announcement, and we made an announcement in the afternoon, and we also notified the parents via the robo-call.” Even with these efforts by administration, some students continue to park in the upper portion of Lot D. One anonymous junior said that they park there even though they know they aren’t supposed to. This student also went on to talk about people they know who park off campus and said that it is “not safe.” The student explained that when they arrive at school at around 6:55 a.m., “it’s usually pretty barren, but [I] was once late because of Blair traffic at 7:15 and just parked on a street off campus.” Chambers wants students to know that “Lot C, which is off of Gilbert down by the mods...is available to students.” It is open to all students “if you have a parking pass.” He claims that “a lot of students don’t take advantage of that lot because some claim it’s too far of a walk.” But this belief has been proven to be false. When measured, Lot C is actually closer to the building than parts of Lot D. Much of this situation has been characterized by miscommunication between the staff and students. With communication and reading documents before signing them, confusion like this may be avoided. Students are allowed to park on all of Sulsar Avenue, all of Lot C and Lot E and in the lower portion of Lot D.
Cutting the costs of college Part two: Post-Secondary Program
Satia Hardy, ‘14 Nisa Muhammad, ‘15 The Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program (PSEOP) is a program that allows high school students to earn high school and/ or college credit in an actual college setting. Freshmen are able to participate in the program under special requirements. The University of Cincinnati and Miami University are two of the colleges that have PSEOP open for eligible high school students who live in Ohio. According to UC and Miami, during the school year, all expenses are paid for by the program. However, at both colleges, the summer courses are
whhscbox.com
self-pay. Another advantage of PSEOP is how it gives “a completely different way of how classes could be taught,” alumna Olivia Orso, who took a religion class at Miami, said. “It was three hours long and [had] no regular quizzes. The best part were the field trips to the different religious temples.” Students must take a placement test in both math and English. “You have to take a test before you get into the program, and you have to pass college-level English, and then you have to pass an Algebra test, too,” SENIOR Briana George said. Also, there is no guarantee that the actual classes will be available. Low-enrollment may cause a class
to be cancelled. Students enrolled in the PSEOP program must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA at UC and a 3.0 GPA at Miami. Failure to meet the GPA requirements may result in the student having to pay for the course out-of-pocket. Deadlines and requirements differ from school to school. For more information about PSEOP at the University of Cincinnati, go to <www.admissions. uc.edu/pseop>. For more information about PSEOP at Miami University, go to <www.units.muohio.edu/lifelonglearning/pseop/>.
ALEX PERSIANI/CHATTERBOX
SENIOR Briana George, a PSEOP student, studies Stats and Japanese. The Japanese course, along with others, are classes that are not offered at Walnut.
Hannah Shaw, Editor-in-Chief
Page 1