Thomas Jefferson seniors carry out the tradition of painting parking spots but with an interesting twist.
Artwork by Kiera Classen
Every year the seniors of Thomas Jefferson get the privilege of decorating and personalizing a parking spot and having something to call their own. Seniors come to the lot and work hard on summer nights to finish their designs. Everyone puts a different twist on the spots, making the lot look like a huge art gallery. In past years the process of getting a spot could be defined as, every man for themselves. However, with a new year comes new things, and a new parking lot process has been implemented.
“The new process to getting a senior parking spot is very easy and organized compared to what it use to be,” said 2012 Class President, Maddi Doro. In the past, after the seniors had checked out and finally left, juniors would rush to the lot with paint in hand. They would then find the spot they had been eyeing the whole year, and tag it with their name. This then meant the spot was theirs to decorate.
“Last year there was a problem with people taking other ‘s spots and then decorating them for themselves,” said Doro. So a new system was created in order to stop the spot snatching. “All the seniors had to go to the Treasurer, Derek Steffes, and then tell him what spot they want to have,” said Doro. “Then they must pay 25 dollars to be able to keep the spot.” Steffes keeps a record of all the names of seniors and their spot number’s, avoiding any confusion.
Seniors are also given a permission slip to read over and in it are the rules they must follow. If there is anything inappropriate in the spot design, students have 24 hours to fix it, and if they don’t they will be fined 100 dollars. Also, if anyone parks in a spot not assigned to them, they will be fined 100 dollars.
“I had my friends come and help paint my spot,” said Senior Casey Folk. “We just took a lot of neon spray paint and everybody wrote their names. We also just put all of our inside jokes in my spot. It only took an hour to do but it was really fun.” Folk said her spot number is thirteen and she picked that because it’s her favorite number.
There are many different ways to decorate a spot, from favorite designs, favorite colors, and even to logos of favorite items. “My spot has purple tentacles all over it,” said Doro. “I did purple because it’s my favorite color and tentacles because I have an attraction to them.” Doro said that she still isn’t finished and she has already spent three afternoons on it.
“It went great; the students who wanted to get a spot got the chance to,” said Assistant Principal Scott Lessard. “It was a simple process and we even were able to raise a little extra money from it to buy trash cans for the lot.” Lessard says that he really enjoys the spots and thinks the students did a great job.
