Have you ever walked through the hallways during passing period? If you answer yes to the preceding question, this article is for you. The hallways are the worst part of my day.

Which part of the hallway you might ask? The most problematic part, the intersection before Blue and Yellow Hall. You have students for every which way and a cafeteria full of children coming from one side. You’ve walked the the halls. They’re like the subway stations in New York.

You’ve seen…

• The students who are so deep in their phone, that their legs slowly begin to stop functioning.
• The students that not only walk slowly but decide that the direction they’re going isn’t where they actually want to go and try to turn around in a crowd of people.
• The students who wait for their friends in the path of every other student.
• The students who kiss after every class like it’s their last.
• The students who stand for reasons I can’t explain.

More and more everyday, the students do what they want and say what they want. More and more everyday, the students become more and more inconsiderate. I have always been told to “walk with a purpose” and my attendance portrays that.

How do you avoid the traffic jams in Hillcrest? Getting from point A to B is more of schedule or plan now.

Here’s what I gathered:

Getting through most efficiently in the halls consist of waiting for the right time: looking for the right openings. Ask me how many people I talk to in the hallways. Zero. I am determined to get to my classes. I have a meticulous way of getting to class. It takes me approximately three minute to get to class. I walk with a purpose and dance my way through the intersection. Making it in time to sing the warning bell songs. It’s a war zone out there. Every man for themselves.

I’ve taken this subject the to students of Hillcrest High School. Here, I’ve interviewed Johnae Hilson, senior attending Hillcrest High School.

How is your experience in Hillcrest hallways?

My experience is terrible. Everyone in the hallways walks slow. All of the kids stop and talk to their friends in the middle of the hallway. And it’s always bunched up between Yellow and Blue in that long hallway, and when I’m coming to gym, when I used to have gym, I could never get to gym on time because of all the people waiting in the lunch line. The hallways just aren’t big enough for that.

How has the environment in the hallways negatively impacted you?

I’ve been tardy to my classes up to six times already. Six too many.

What are some things you see throughout the hallways?

I see fights, arguments, PDA, cursing, and boys violating the School’s Dress Code.

Here, I’ve asked Danielle Douglas, senior attending Hillcrest High School.

How is your experience in Hillcrest hallways?

The hallways get a little crowded sometimes and some people just need to know how to walk through it. You have to use your body to squeeze through the spots.

What can we do to change this? If heavy traffic is a concern on a specific street or area, the state or county adds a stop sign or traffic lights. Obviously a stop sign won’t work, but will a traffic light work? Maybe, but in all seriousness, there are many changes we can make that result in many other changes, but we can’t paint a wall with a hole in it. We have to do better to encourage students to come to class on time by punishment and rewards. In school suspension isn’t enough. Students want to get out of their classes anyway. There is always work to do around the school.

I’ve actually heard conversations where students get to class late on purpose. Reality check. No one will care if you walk in late. You will when you are sitting in the Dean’s office trying to build a shaky argument on how it wasn’t your fault. You will when you are behind in class and you’re begging your teacher for extra credit opportunity. You will when colleges won’t accept you because you transcripts show how idle and unreliable you are. You will when you are fired from your job.

High school is the testing ground for building your future. Here is where you find out more about you. Here is where your morals develop. We learned these type of things in high school to mature and get ready for the world of even more diverse people than the people in your neighborhood. You don’t want to be the immature person that everyone resents because “you need to grow up”. That’s what we’re doing now and we’ll be growing forever.

We are building maturity and it starts now.