Last year, I covered a piece regarding rising tensions between juniors and seniors over the BT parking lot. The piece solely focused on others opinions and issues regarding the subject. However, I have since begun parking at BT and knowing what I know, took every precaution to ensure I would not face the same problems I reported on. I arrived early the first day of school and claimed the parking spot I planned to use for the remainder of the year. I parked there daily for over a month until one day I arrived to find a blue minivan parked in my spot. I knew it was trivial and yet somehow it ruined my entire morning. I found another spot, unintentionally stealing another person’s spot. The entire situation created a chaos of angry glares, frustrated sighs and even a passive aggressive comment. Following this incident, I decided it was time for a follow up piece on the BT parking situation. 

Initially, it seemed like there was nothing to find. No one seemed to have any problems. One senior, Jacob S. ‘22 called himself the stealer, saying that he “just parks wherever.” However, I finally reached a breakthrough. When I asked Lexi H. ‘22 if she had any thoughts, I received an immediate outburst of emotion. 

“This is literally always on my mind,” she says. “When a junior pulls through [in] the wrong direction, it completely ruins my day!” 

Seniors feel as though they’ve gotten the routine down. They’ve claimed their spot and continue to use it daily. Therefore, there should be no problems. “It’s a simple concept,” says Jonah S. ‘22. “If you see the same car in the same parking spot on a daily basis, what makes you think that you can just take that spot whenever you feel like?”

 Juniors feel like this is exaggerated. Gaia P. ‘23 was initially concerned about stealing another person’s spot, but now she feels “like nobody cares, and I just take whatever spot is open.” I can personally verify this statement because she has taken my spot on multiple occasions. 

Compare this article to my previous one, titled Tensions Mount Over BT Parking, and you will see a clear role reversal. The difference is, last year seniors intentionally confronted juniors who stole their spots. Fortunately, the new 8:20 AM start time has made that difficult for seniors this year. Riley B ‘22 explains how “a white Volvo driven by some junior that I don’t know parks in my spot every day but because I come late he’s always earlier than me and I can’t tell him.” This delay has made for far less confrontation than we saw last year. But once again, I feel as though the BT administration must step in to stop this vicious cycle. Other schools have reserved parking spots which students must register for. Students are required to register their vehicles at the beginning of the school year, could we not also implement numbered parking spots assigned to any student that requests one? At the very least, shouldn’t there be a designated area where juniors and seniors can park separately?