There was a large amount of speculation about the construction of Loyola Academy this summer. The old sophomore/freshman football practice fields were paved over and turned into a senior parking lot.

Although, during construction, a lot of people had little to no clue as to what they were exactly doing to the outside of the school. Everyone knew they were building a new lot for Loyola Seniors, but no one was quite sure what the layout would actually look like.

Additionally, Loyola had to work around the tennis courts to create a drop off lane for students getting a ride from their parents. The parking lot has gotten a wide range of opinions throughout the Loyola student body and the Loyola community as a whole.

The first couple of weeks for the new parking lot had mostly negative remarks from students. At first, students claimed to be stuck up to 25 minutes in the parking lot. Despite Loyola assigning many faculty members to control the traffic, the wait was still a guarantee after school.

Senior Max Raynal said, “After school, you better get on your horse to get to your car or you have to wait. It’s gotten a lot better from the first couple weeks but still has a lot of room for efficiency.”

A lot of students had similar answers to Max’s, all emphasizing the progression they’ve seen week after week. Ciaran O’Brien, a freshman at Loyola, emphasized the length of the pick up line after school. Particularly, he said, “The pick up line has been hit or miss. Some days it takes just a minute and the other days not so much.”

As the semester dragged on, most students realized that the after school chaos can be eliminated with just a little bit of hustle.

The parking lot, aside from the after school troubles, has done many good things for the school. Primarily, it’s kept all of the traffic away from the front doors of school. The front of Loyola has always been clogged with cars and had many flaws in the system. Parents that had to wait for their kids completely slowed down the whole drop off line.

The lobby after school was a zoo with hundreds of students surrounding each other. The new system allows students to find their parents in line. Once they are ready to leave, parents can simply just drive around the line.

Along with efficiency, the new parking lot has more parking for faculty members. Moving the student parking lot towards Lake Avenue has opened up a lot of spots in the main lot. In years past, all parking spots in the main lot have been reserved for students. Now, only four rows remain accessible for Loyola Seniors.

The new parking lot has caused a lot of commotion throughout the Loyola Community. Late August and early September will always be remembered as a stressful time in the parking lot for everyone. As more times goes by, the parking lot will turn out to be a successful system for years to come