2:30 p.m. The final bell rings, and seniors flood the hallway faster than ever before. Hundreds of seniors sprint to the Commons, running over anything in their way. The first-come, first-served parking spot permit pickup was underway.

In the Commons, a table was set up in the back right corner with nothing but cones, trash cans and a thin rope to keep people in line. Instead of forming a line, the seniors rushed into what would look like a mosh pit to an outsider, with students getting trampled, screaming at others and being pushed around while everyone tried to get to the front. “I got to the line first and I was really excited because I avoided the big mob and I got the parking spot I wanted, which was one that is really easy to pull into in the morning and get out of in the afternoon,” senior Karen Potts said.

Picking a parking spot is a massive deal. The ones on the ends are good, as being able to pull in is a must, and being closer to the school entrance is wanted by everyone. However, there are only a select few spots that fit this criteria, leaving intense demand and passion when getting a spot.“The school could’ve easily prevented the mayhem that happened. All of the students had known what was about to happen and administration was ignorant to think that it would’ve gone smoothly,” senior Spencer Becker said.

After the initial chaos during the first five to 10 minutes, administrators and teachers, including senior administrator Stephanie Labbe and science teacher Sanford Herzon, started to yell from the bridge, trying to make people get into a single file line. One of the solutions was to take the people at the end of the line and create a parallel second line, which angered people who were stuck in the middle and had gotten there first, and got punished by being forced to the end of the line with no choice. “I was stuck in a mob of people for what felt like 45 minutes. I felt like I was in a mosh pit and it was awful,” senior Lauren Povich said.

Prior to 2:30 security was said to be watching over the Commons to make sure that people didn’t try to skip and leave class early. The seniors were told that if there was anyone caught doing that, they would be at risk for not getting a spot at all. However, there were seniors who didn’t have an eighth period, and hid in the nearby bathrooms or around the corner, and tried to be the first ones there. It didn’t work out though because everyone seemed to get there at the same time, resulting in the large crowd. “I had a doctor’s appointment and I came back just in time,” Becker said.

In past years, a lottery was done between Wootton and Rockshire spots, and people were hoping that they would get a Wootton spot. This year, in the midst of the permit pickup, complaints that it wasn’t a lottery was one of the largest criticisms.