A foreign concept to Williston’s boarding community, the Day Student parking lot is proving to be a place of constant uncertainties.
Williston’s estimated 150 day students in the upper school make up around 30% of the school’s population, and are a driving force in the overall community. Though most experiences on school grounds do not differ by boarding or day status, all that changes when the bookends of an academic day are mentioned.
The main luxury of boarding is being able to wake up and have a simple five-minute walk to class, and subsequently back to one’s dorm. Often this involves being greeted by a sight of cars around 8:20 every morning and 3:05 every afternoon flooding in and out of the day student parking lot behind Scott Hall. Though appearing as a relatively calm and organized system from an outside perspective, the process of being a day student driver at Williston, and the politics that come with it, are more abundant than they seem.
Williston, unlike many other schools, does not assign parking places to student drivers. The process of finding a parking spot is based purely up to chance in the morning, and depends on the time of arrival at school. This leaves the game of getting a “prime” parking spot (those closest to Ford Hall), with little regulation, regulation which many think the school could benefit from.
Andie Kinstle, a day student driver from Easthampton, Mass., thinks a parking system change would alleviate the underlying sense of competition that exists in the lot in the mornings.
“I feel like making a system where you register your car, and you get a number wouldn’t be that much more difficult,” she said. “Like, maybe I’m just not understanding that process, but I feel like it could easily be an incentive to get people to register their cars.”
Williston student drivers are required to register their cars at the beginning of the academic year if they wish to be allowed to park on campus. The registration sticker, a small blue square that is often places in the corner of windshields or back windows, signifies that status and alleviates any possible disciplinary actions that come from security and or the dean’s office involving cars on campus.
Brooke Manfredi, a senior day student driver from Westfield, Mass., shares a similar opinion.
“I think that seniors should have their own designated parking spot, or at least get a parking spot when you are registered to park at Williston,” she said. “Then it would encourage registration for parking … and you could get an assigned spot, so everyone would have one.”
Brooke leaves home at 7:40 every morning.
Durgin Shields, a senior day student driver from Deerfield, Mass., mentions another issue that has been proving to be more prevalent as campus continues to receive snow, which has blocked many spots in the back of the lot commonly used by student drivers.
“Some people in Easthampton who are walking the bike path will park in the farthest away spots and take up [those] spaces,” Durgin, who has to leave his home at 7:50 every morning, said.
One of Williston’s main characteristics that makes so appealing to many is its connection to the town of Easthampton. Yet, the usage of the parking spots needed so desperately by student parkers has begun to cause tension.
Andie also shared one of her main pet peeves that she believes she is not alone in.
“Parents will drop their kids off in the day student lot, but they’ll stop in the middle of the loop that we have to drive on to get around the DSL,” she said. “They’ll just stop in the middle of the loop and then let their kids out, and of course, their kid has to close their door, get their bag from the trunk.”
Andie continued: “Yeah, I’m probably only waiting for a few minutes, but I’m already running a few minutes behind every single day … it’s valuable time that I need to park … what if I have to adjust my parking spot? It’s kind of annoying.”
Though appearing peaceful and well oiled from the outside, around 8:27 in the morning (as told by sources) the DSL becomes a place of frantic parking and aggravated decisions.
Durgin shares one of his main frustrations, a classic in any high traffic area.
“Some people are terrible parkers and take up more than one spot,” he said.
The ability to park a car and safely navigate a crowded space is a conversation that has arose in the past few months after a few close calls in the DSL.
Brooke, whose car has been a victim of a small accident in the lot, has a firm yet understanding take on the issue of accidents and what should be done in response to them.
“You just shouldn’t be driving if you’re going hit other people’s cars,” said Brooke. “Well, okay … everyone has accidents, right? But at the same time, I think that maybe you should go get them like, Dunkin’, Starbucks, go get them a little treat as an extra sorry.”