In early September, Principal Michael Hinze sent out an email to Westerville South students announcing that cars without parking passes would be ticketed and that locker applications were filling up. By checking emails, students can find important information in regards to the school year for success.
Emails
Many students at Westerville South may be unaware of how to get a parking pass or how to get a locker because they do not check their email often.
Donna McCauley sends out emails to students who still have not picked up their locker assignments, yet there are still multiple that have not been picked up.
According to a Scribe survey, 42.1% of the student respondents said they check their emails daily, 39.5% check their emails weekly, and 7.9% never check their emails. Other responses included 5.3% who check their email constantly and another 5.3% who check their email on a monthly basis.
Hinze also sends out an email to students, teachers, and parents once a week full of information that they need to know.
“If you’re an underclassmen, it’s okay if you’re checking it a couple times a week. If you are a junior or a senior, you should be checking your email multiple times a day,” Hinze said.
There are many events coming up during the fall that students will need to know. “Students need to check their emails because of information about clubs, activities, parking passes, homecoming, scholarships, sports, and more,” Hinze stated.
According to the Indeed Editorial Team, “Email allows you to keep track of outgoing and incoming messages. You can return to it as needed and store emails in categorized folders.”
“Checking my email has helped me stay in the loop during the school year,” varsity soccer player Anna Miller said. While juggling soccer, work, and school, email allows for her to easily access information that she needs to know.
Some people may get caught up in the use of email, though. According to Hinze, it prevents people from doing their jobs because it wastes time.
“Because email is accessible nearly any time with a data or internet connection, checking your email constantly, even when not at work, can often feel like an expectation and may affect your work-life balance,” the Indeed Editorial Team said.
Hinze says that checking your email is important, but it should not be abused.
According to Plummer, “Between checking email six times more than needed, letting notifications interrupt us, and taking time to get back on track, we lose 21 minutes per day.” (Harvard Business Review).
Parking Passes
According to secretary Donna McCauley, parking passes are $30 and parking tickets are $10.
There can be consequences for not paying your parking tickets. “They stay on your account and you can’t go to homecoming, prom, or the senior trip. Also, you cannot pick up your diploma after graduating if your fees are not paid,” McCauley stated.
Many students do not have parking passes yet because they do not know how to get one. According to an earlier Scribe survey of 40 South student drivers, half of them did not know how to go about getting a parking pass.
McCauley explained that you can get them online by going to the district website, selecting “Westerville South,” going to “Resources,” and then selecting “Files and Downloads.”
“The parking passes are only available to juniors and seniors, so if you are an underclassmen, you cannot buy one. In order to buy a pass, you must have your Code of Conduct signed, fees and fines paid, and all books and calculators returned,” McCauley said.
Students can also go to the front office and pick up a paper that explains the steps to buying a parking pass.
Miller expressed her distaste for parking passes. “I think they should be free because we’re already required to go to school. You should only have to pay if you want a specific assigned spot,” she said.
Senior lacrosse player Donald Mills agrees with Miller. “We should have parking passes but you shouldn’t have to pay for them. I think the only way you should be able to get ticketed is if you’re a sophomore or junior parking in one of the senior lots,” Mills said.
The senior lots consist of the Main Wildcat Lot, the Tennis Lot, and the Stadium Lot. Juniors are able to park in the lot across from Whittier Elementary School off of Walnut.
In a nearby district, Olentangy Orange decided to allow their students to have “Senior Reserved Painted Parking Spots,” according to their school website.
“Our parking spots are first come, first serve and that is your spot for the rest of the year. You get to hang out with your friends and paint your spot. It’s a lot of fun,” Tristan Matheny said, a senior at Olentangy Orange.
This is not something that Westerville South offers, but some seniors wish they did. “I would absolutely love to be able to paint my parking spot,” senior cheerleader Helena Evans stated.
Miller also said the main Wildcat Lot fills up quite fast, so she believes that there’s not enough parking for everybody.
“Some lots may be fuller than others, but nobody has been unable to buy a parking pass because of limited space. Not many students park in the Tennis Lot, which is available as well,” McCauley said.
McCauley also stated that about 150 passes are given to seniors and about 100 are given to juniors, but sometimes construction workers can take up space in the parking lots with their equipment.
Lockers
Construction has interfered with other aspects of the school, such as locker use. This school year, students must apply for a locker because there are not enough for every student.
“We had 200 lockers, but they’re all gone. After construction, we may have more,” McCauley said.
A few people have come to apply for a locker and have been denied, but there are still people who have not picked up their locker assignments yet. As of right now, there is no wait list.
“We’ve never talked about it. That’s a good thing to talk to administrators about. I just wouldn’t want students to be disappointed if they didn’t get it. Not many people really use lockers in the first place. After COVID, people just don’t want to use them. They’d rather carry a backpack,” McCauley stated.
According to an aforementioned Scribe survey, 85% of students said they prefer carrying their things; whereas, only 15% of students said they would prefer to use a locker. Apparently, most students prefer to use backpacks.
“I prefer carrying my things because if I had to walk back and forth to my locker I’d be late to class,” freshman Arionna Steele said.
Not everybody prefers to carry a heavy backpack, though. Some people still want lockers. “Twelve people have applied after they’ve been filled up, but I’ve notified them that they’re all gone,” McCauley said.
If students do not pick up their locker assignments within the next week, the lockers will be available for students to apply for.
