Imagine it is the first day of senior year. You drive to and arrive at school and get to pull into a beautiful personalized parking spot. Senior year is supposed to be the most memorable year of high school. Paying to paint your senior parking spot has been a tradition at many schools around Grand Rapids, and with the art department here, we could make the parking lot sparkle and shine.
Ever since freshman year, I have wondered about the fun, decoratively painted parking spots when pulling into the Performing Arts Center (PAC) lot.
Leaving my mark on the school in some way has always been something I have looked forward to accomplishing. From the majestically painted ceiling tiles throughout the halls to the big Wildcat rock that is freshly painted every couple of weeks, tidbits of graduates’ past have always stood out to me.
Uncovering the mystery behind the bright, beautiful painted parking spots outside the PAC started with 2019 graduate Jenna Bailey as an effort to raise money for the National Honor Society (NHS). Guidance office secretary Christine Achision, who retired this year from her position as NHS advisor, oversaw the mini-project as it was developing.
Seniors were given access to a spot in the PAC parking by donating to NHS, and then purchased their supplies and painted their assigned spots. The students then voted on which spot was best, and the winners earned prizes. Post the one-time event, the world changed and the fundraiser faded.
“It ended in 2019 just due to the lack of interest. We tried to offer it back up, but nobody wanted to take it,” Atchison said. “I remember working with her [Bailey], and unfortunately it just did not carry on, though I wish it would have been because it was really fun for the students that participated.”
Though staff and students enjoyed starting this tradition by bringing bright creativity to our event parking spaces, the slow-starting tradition came to a quick halt.
“It was a one-year process,” Atchison said. “Originally, they were using it as a fundraiser, but once COVID-19 happened, we started to change the security.”
With security and many other things around the school altered by the pandemic, the PAC doors became inaccessible for student use. Although inconvenient for those who may wish to enter or exit through these doors, senior class advisor Shelli Tabor understands that, though disappointing, the change was necessary.
“They knew that we had to be done with that entrance and exit because we had food getting delivered there and people in and out through [the building],” Tabor said. “Now, they have the fire doors there so they can use them for senior citizens, talent shows and it saves them having to have security officers go and patrol that back and forth.”
Security still seems to be the biggest obstacle with not having the PAC lot reserved for seniors, it creates a shortage of spaces to park in the main back lot. Because students don’t want to park and walk from the distant stadium lot, this causes students to park illegally and misuse their privileges as drivers.
I believe starting a similar tradition of paying to paint senior parking spots in the PAC lot once again would be beneficial for the organization in the parking lot and the safety of the students in the district as a whole.
In addition, it would help seniors feel important while leaving their mark on the school. Creating a more organized parking lot is a safety concern as well, senior parking spots would help keep the grades a bit more separated.
“If you look in the back [parking lot], we don’t have a lot of drivers that love going out to that football parking lot. It would be nice if there were [reserved] parking, and it went by seniority,” Tabor said.
Though it would be too late for the class of 2024 to paint reserved parking spots, senior Juliya Barr wishes something like this becomes available for future graduates.
“I feel like every year they try to do something so big for the seniors, it was something that I was looking forward to,” Barr said. “With four years of fighting for parking spots, it would be nice not to worry about where I would park in the morning.”
In the future, if the opportunity were to arise for seniors to paint their parking spots, I think participation levels would be high and students would be more engaged than in 2019. Lack of interest was likely caused by the pandemic because school parking was less of an issue due to the COVID-19 shutdown and virtual learning.
But now, the daily parking battle is back. Senior artist Vincent Williams would have taken any opportunity to put some of his own “pazaz” on the school by painting a reserved senior parking spot.
“Not having the chance is a bummer; I’m an artist, and I can’t paint that well, but I know that I would have so much fun doing it,” Williams said. “It’s a way to stay creative; it doesn’t feel like a proper send-off without your parking spot.”
Participating in senior traditions fosters a sense of connection among classmates, one that you can’t always get in a classroom. Seniors come together to celebrate their achievements bond over shared experiences and transition from adolescence to adulthood. Painting parking spots would serve as a bonding experience that students would fondly look back on, a new tradition to celebrate, and a reliable fundraiser.
I know it would be worth the effort to offer this opportunity once again. Students would jump at the chance, and it would be a repeatable source of fundraising for whichever program picked it up. Leaving your mark on the school not only gives you something to look back to, it tells your story of time spent at Northview.
Senior year you want to leave the school feeling like you have accomplished something and even if you did not lead the school to a state champ or show up to every football game, leaving your mark on a parking spot is something that will not be forgotten by you or the ones new to the high school.
