- Grady Hornbeek ’20 & Paul Komin ’20
When Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin finished their first draft of the Declaration of Independence, they thought about what else they should add. They decided to change the fundamental rights of all people from “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” to “life, liberty, and senior parking privileges.” Since that day, the parking rights that each of the senior classes at SHP who preceded us have indulged in were defended with tooth and nail, never faltering to the control of the Administration.
This year, however, the age of freedom and guaranteed parking spots came to a bitter end, as a policy change masked as a punishment for the Senior class of 2020 was enacted. To make matters worse, the class of 2020 did not have the opportunity to park in a lot on campus last year, while all of the other Junior classes before us could. That makes two years of parking, which were supposed to be free of tardy slips and potential detentions, ripped from our fingers.
And yet, the Administration changed yet another policy around tardiness to school, even though the Mormon lot parking situation they provided for us last year was the primary cause of our tardiness. Now, the parking lot at SHP has turned into the Wild West, a free-for-all where you have to be one of the earliest birds on campus to secure the worm that is a Prep parking spot. Although this is a punishment we may deserve, it has consequences that the Administration may not be able to control.
Ever since the Open Parking Policy was put into action, the mornings have been hectic and full of distress. Parents continue to enter through the exits, causing havoc. Seniors, on the verge of riot, begin to whisper in the halls about sparking a rebellion. Juniors smugly park in front of the new Campbell center, thrilled as they watch the seniors make the long trek from the far end of the lot. Sophomores and freshmen skip happily to their first period classes, completely unaware that a senior lot existed in the first place. If the lowerclassmen remain ignorant about this problem, it may be an issue they will find themselves struggling against once they, too, earn their senior privileges.
Thus, in the words of Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, we, as both the citizens of the United States and the community at SHP, must work together to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. We must re-secure our blessed senior parking privileges, not only for the class of 2020 but for the juniors and lowerclassmen who will follow after us, so that they may enjoy this liberating luxury when it’s their time to shine. Needless to say, parking has worsened the already-contentious political climate in America, and until a solution is reached, SHP will continue to be at the forefront of politics’ most significant issues.
Photo captured by James Hiemstra ’22
