Students can acquire parking passes each year to drive to school and park in the upper lots. Penn-Trafford’s parking system compares to surrounding schools in terms of parking costs, availability and eligibility requirements. 

     Money is often on most students’ minds, and P-T charges $75 for an annual pass. The money raised goes towards student activities, specifically athletics, as well as paying for security guards. 

     “I think [the cost] should be lower, but I understand why it’s the way it is,” senior Olivia Pepple said.

     Like other P-T seniors, Pepple drives to school every day, noting the benefits. 

     “I can leave at whatever time I want and go into the school whenever I want,” she stated.

     At surrounding districts, for annual passes, the price is $0 at Hempfield, $50 at Kiski, $75 at Plum and $100 at Franklin Regional. 

     While P-T only offers annual passes, Plum sells annual, seasonal ($25) and emergency passes ($2). Franklin offers similar deals, with 40 seasonal athletic parking passes available for $30 each. 

     P-T’s athletic director, Kerry Hetrick, P-T’s athletic director and the person in charge of managing parking passes, said, “On the first three days [of school, passes] are only open to seniors, after that the juniors can apply.”

     Similar to other schools, P-T prioritizes seniority for obtaining parking passes. Franklin Regional also allows seniors to apply before juniors; however, while seniors are gifted passes based on the earliest registration form completion, juniors are chosen from their peers. 

     “Juniors have a lottery that they apply for, and their name is randomly picked from a box,” stated Christine Nicely, secretary at Franklin Regional Senior High School. “After the principal picks the first name, every student who wins picks the subsequent name.”

     With senior and junior parking passes combined, there are 150 passes available at Plum, 200 at Kiski, 300 at both Franklin and P-T and 400 at Hempfield. At Franklin, the passes are divided so 270 passes are available to seniors and 30 to juniors.

     If all tickets are sold, P-T can raise up to $22,500. Though Hempfield has the most passes available, the school raises the least amount of money because the passes are free. Kiski can raise up to $10,000, $11,250 at Plum and $30,000 at Franklin.

Annabelle Aquino, Copy Editor; Sydney Mularski, Media Manager