One of the most noteworthy privileges of being a senior at Lake Forest High School is parking in the senior parking lot, allowing seniors to park directly outside of LFHS.

This is helpful for student-athletes rushing to practice and provides a quick entry into the school on bad-weather days. This limited privilege is meant for seniors, but I’ve noticed countless juniors and underclassmen parking there.

This year, there have been noticeable changes to the senior parking lot, including a staff member who checks if people have a parking pass before entering. This alleviated the issue of people without a pass parking in the lot, which had caused overcrowding and a lack of parking spots.

Though this has vastly improved the parking lot’s functionality, the problem of juniors and underclassmen parking there has yet to be resolved.

In the semi-annual raffle, not all seniors win this raffle, leaving some of them to find parking spots elsewhere.

This results in a difficult search for houses behind the school offering driveway parking, which can be both expensive and time-consuming. Another option is parking remotely, where the 10-minute walk can be a hassle on cold and rainy days. So why are younger students getting senior spots instead of actual seniors?

Having waited three years for a chance to park in the senior parking lot, seniors are upset seeing students from other grades receive their spots.

Somehow, sophomores and juniors have enjoyed this senior privilege before me, an actual senior. Many of my senior friends and peers did not receive senior parking, yet students from other grades receive their spots.

Currently, there are 15 spots given to underclassmen and next year they are limiting it to ten. This is a step in the right direction, but the price per semester is still limiting some students. The senior parking spots that are sometimes being auctioned off for thousands of dollars do not give all students an equal opportunity. It is neither ethical nor logical to ask students to pay $635 per semester just to park at the school.

The senior parking system has been in place for a long time according to Assistant Principal Mr. Frank Lesniak.

“For as long as I can remember. I don’t remember it being any other way. Because we are limited with space,” said Lesniak, “and I think there could potentially be flaws in the system. It doesn’t give every senior the opportunity to apply because of the price point. The price immediately excludes some people.”

There are many issues with the way senior parking is managed, including price and senior priority. Going forward, many students at LFHS would love to see a solution.

Lesniak has other ideas for changing the way senior parking is administered.

“I wish we could create more spots. I wish we could use some of the land beyond the track and grass area,” said Lesniak, ”Maybe we take away some of that grass and use that as parking, it would create more opportunities for seniors to get a spot.”

The current system in place is neither logical nor fair. As seniors who have waited three years for our turn just to be disappointed, we want change.