According to the Harvard Business Review, humans make up to 35,000 decisions in any given day. For NASH students, the invaluable decision of where to park, is among those.
The NASH parking lot certainly accommodates its high demand for student parking with a grand total of 642 parking spots exclusively available to students. Those spots are sectioned off into three segments. The athletic lot is closest to the athletic entrance doors which student drivers enter in the mornings. The remaining spots are in the two tennis court lots. The larger lot is across from the courts, and the smaller lot sits beside them.
With three lots to choose from and 642 spots to claim, NASH students have varying reasons for their own routine.
In the mornings, you can find people gathered outside their cars, socializing before the bell rings. Other students sit inside the cab for some last few minutes of quiet before entering school. Still others swing their backpacks over their shoulders and immediately walk into the building.
However, regardless of their morning, they all still reason their way to a strategic parking spot.
Specifically, many students park to accommodate for their sports schedule.
Tori Tieppo, a NASH junior said, “I play water polo in the evenings after school, so I get out of practice late. This just means that I don’t have to worry about the rush of traffic right when the bell rings. So I park close to the doors.”
Juniors Lainey Erskine and Elinor Handel have similar strategies.
“I park in the back parking lot so I can get out to cross country faster,” Erskine said, showing off her silver Ford.
“I park in the furthest lot because it’s easy to get out fast. It’s worth the walk to not be late to practice,” Handel explained.
However, without needing to worry about sports occurring directly after school, other students have different thoughts regarding their decisions.
Senior Luca Thomas claims he tested out a couple different locations before settling on a consistent spot near the back of the athletic lot.
“I park at the end of the athletic lot because I want to be able to get out by the light,” Thomas said. “I’ve found that it’s fastest, especially considering the rules about exiting the lots. It just makes the most sense.”
Another senior, Nick Klein, argues that his strategy is also fastest. Klein chooses to park in a spot besides the tennis courts. Apparently, a far walk in the heat or in the snow won’t stop him.
“I’ve been parking in the same exact spot the entire time I’ve been driving,” Klein said. “You can find my blue car there every day.”
The intentionality of each student’s parking points to their various values, commitments, and needs, and also how the massive North Allegheny parking lot can accommodate them. From chatting it up in their cars during the early morning hours to beelining to their spots in a race to be the first to leave, NASH students are intentional in at least one of their 35,000 decisions each day.
