By Pallavi Kawatra, Opinions Editor

Trinity Hall, now hosting roughly 110 students within the freshman, sophomore and junior classes, is growing, and not only in its population. Within junior year, a majority of students will receive their driver’s license and take advantage of their new privileges. But due to restrictions in parking space, juniors are currently not allowed to drive to school. The ability to drive to school will benefit the juniors in many ways. During my discussion with juniors Marissa Crespo and Kaitlyn Vogel, I learned a great deal about why being able to drive to school would be valuable to them and their families.

“Juniors should be able to drive to school because, personally, it would help my parents because they wouldn’t have to pick me up from school,” Crespo said. Vogel added, “I wouldn’t have to wait for the bus until 5:15 p.m., especially since I don’t do a sport some days after school.” While most juniors participate in sports, some do not, and if their parents are unable to pick them up, they have to stay in school until the buses come at 5:15 p.m. Crespo and Vogel emphasized that they would concentrate on their school work better at home than at school, an argument that likely applies to others. The environment after school may be too loud for the some to concentrate, and if they are able to drive to and from school, juniors would be able to go home after school to complete their homework in a more suitable environment.

As athletes, Crespo and I also discussed the benefits of being able to drive to away competitions. “If I could drive, I wouldn’t have to come back to school after away games; I could simply leave straight from the game,” Crespo said, pointing out how much time that would save her and her parents.  

In the end, both juniors brought up the most compelling reason for wanting to drive themselves to school: more sleep. “If I didn’t have to catch the bus in the morning because I was driving to school, I could get up later and get more sleep,” Vogel said. Some juniors drive to their stops to board the bus, which then makes several more stops before finally arriving at school. If given the opportunity to drive to school instead, many would have the chance to sleep in longer, and even those five or ten extra minutes of sleep can be very important.

If the juniors have earned the right to drive by the state of New Jersey, they should be permitted to drive to school. This privilege would allow those juniors valuable time to devote to two crucial necessities this year: studying and sleeping.