The awaited week of Academy’s New Parking Garage has finally come. On Tuesday morning, students filed into the new building nervously as teachers watched their car’s every move. It seemed at every turn, there was some sort of faculty member watching and telling you where to go. Other than those dreadful first moments, the garage has turned out as a great success.

The parking garage began to be built in July of 2015, and finished around Christmas time the same year. According to Lynn Hathaway the parking garage was created “so that student parking could be amply provided.” The school was growing in size, so naturally the administration decided so should the parking spots. Now we are fully able to accommodate for all the big events we host.

There were many differing opinions about the new project before it had even been started. Some students worried about the parking spots being too small in such a tight space while others stressed over the traffic they thought would happen when pulling out. Neither of these worries turned out to be a problem, the spots are plenty big for any car and the traffic is less worse than it was before the garage. Junior Allie Weachter explains that “the traffic comparison between before and after the garage is great” because the time was basically cut in half.

The only negative aspect of the parking garage has been the walk between the spots and the school. Senior Mimi Kamm claims that the “maze we have to walk through to get to the bridge is my least favorite thing, I really don’t like all the blue covered fencing.” Because of the construction of the new arts center, the school blocks off the site with huge fences protected by blue covering. We realize they are there for our protection, but students are already tired in the morning so the walk is that much harder to navigate through.

Although, the assigned parking spots have also been a big hit. It is so nice to know exactly where to park every morning when you pull into the garage, rather than spending a few minutes searching for an open place. Kamm takes underclassmen to sports and thinks the assigned spots help because “the younger kids know where to go if they get to your car before you, and do not have to search for it.” Not only do the assignments save time, but it is also nice to have a neighbor that you park next to every day.

All in all, the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to the feelings about the new garage. There is more room for each individual spot, and there are more spots for guests during events. The long walk is the only negative outcome, but as Academy girls we are used to lots of walking anyway. It is crazy to think that we are the first generation of students to experience something that will be around for a while.