Air Academy High School traffic has become a very concerning matter. Ever since 1957 when the school was built and established, there had been no changes made to the parking lot until 2016. However, since then there have been remoldings of classrooms, floors, and even bathrooms.

However, with this modelization, it has never occurred to the board or even security to propose ideas surrounding the remodeling of the parking lot. The layout to get into the school from the start of the base is very simple, but when morning and afternoon traffic picks up the safety of getting in and out of the school can be straining. 

“I’ve been going to this school for 4 years, however in the mornings trying to get to school it’s almost impossible because of the one way roads leading into the school,” senior Emma Martin said. 

Many students try to block out an extra 15 minutes when arriving at school just so they are on time and they even consider the approximate time it would take to get to school on time without traffic. 

“I live very close to the school, maybe 10 minutes away. Every morning I have to block out maybe even an extra half hour to make it on time some mornings,” sophomore Sam Brennan said. 

Many students already struggle with staying up late, which then makes early mornings the next day difficult. Not all mornings are the same though. Despite the extra effort to make it on time to school, sometimes the traffic patterns in the morning are not always in the students’ benefit.

“I truly try to make an effort to be in the student parking lot around 7:30 a.m. but some mornings vary with how exhausted and straining it is to wake up early every morning. I remember this one time I was running very late to school, and traffic was backed up all the way up to turn in the school parking lot. I was maybe seven minutes late to class that morning and my teacher didn’t care that I was late and treated my absence for those seven minutes as if I had accutily wronged her,” junior Tatum Salamon said. 

Not only has the growing matter of traffic getting into the school been a struggle for students, but also the traffic to get out of the school parking lot has been a struggle. 

“My last class of the day is a TA. Some days my teacher lets me out early to get ahead of the traffic. Within those two minutes of me walking out of my class to my car there is already traffic build up, and so I get to my car and I have to wait an extra 35 minutes maybe to leave school,” junior Dominic Jennings said. 

School traffic can be difficult to estimate, especially considering other things that may come into play during a time crunch. Nevertheless, students try their best to be on time for school, and with that effort, there should be leeway on what time students show up to morning classes. With that also being said, this matter should be brought to the attention of the district, in order to expand the parking lot, which would not only decrease the time expense of students but also would promote safe arrival in and out of school.