by Caitlin Fletcher

Lawrence:

Junior Maggie Allen wakes up at 6:00 every morning and then leaves her house to head to STA at 6:30. Her dad, Kent, drives her to school and when she arrives, it is 7:30 a.m. Allen lives in Lawrence and takes K-10 highway to school, an almost 45 mile drive from her home to school, but it was not always this way.

“When I started going to school [at STA], I lived in Lee’s Summit,” Allen said. “Then summer before sophomore year, my mom got a job in Topeka, so we moved to Lawrence.”

According to Allen, she considered schools in Lawrence, but did not think any of them would be the right fit. “I looked at a private school there that was way more expensive and seemed sort of stuck up,” Allen said. “I knew I didn’t want to go there, and one of the only other options was the public school, which is huge. I don’t think I could’ve done it. I honestly just can’t picture myself anywhere but STA.”

Allen continued to attend STA, which, according to Allen the commute can be time consuming, not only for her but also for her father. “My dad drives me to school in the morning, then drives back to Lawrence, which takes about two hours,” Allen said.

Then later in the afternoon Allen’s father, Kent Allen, picks up her siblings from school while she is at cross country, then comes to get her.

“The commute is one of the main reasons I decided to do cross country this year,” Allen said. “I would be waiting at school by myself while my dad picks up my brother and sister otherwise, so I thought it would be something good to do instead of waiting at school for my dad to come.”

According to Allen, it would be easier if she could drive herself, but she is still not a licensed driver.

“I have my permit,” Allen said. “I got it late, so I won’t drive until senior year. It’s partly because of the commute to school and driving in rush hour every day.”

Overland Park:

Her alarm goes off at 6:30 every morning. She turns it off and gets out of bed. She does not have time to snooze her alarm if she wants to make it to school on time.

Senior Kelli Strader lives in Overland Park and it takes her about 30 minutes to get to school.

“I usually have to leave my house around 6:50 in order to make it to school on time,” Strader said.

Driving to school also requires that Strader drive by St. Thomas Aquinas High School which is just a few blocks away from her own house.

“It’s annoying when I drive past Aquinas and it’s like a ghost town and I realize I could have woken up at 7:40 and gone to school at 7:45 if I went there,” Strader said.

Living far away from school can also be difficult when Strader is coming home.

“I work after school, and I’m almost always late,” Strader said. “I’m supposed to be at work at 3:45, but I usually get there around 4:00 because I go to school farther than anyone I work with.”

It is not only inconvenient during the week, but during the weekend as well.

“No one ever wants to come out to my house,” Strader says, “They say it’s because I live far away, but it’s not that bad if you take the highway.”

On the highway, it takes about 20 minutes to get out to her house. Because her friends do not usually come to her house, she tends to have to drive even more.

“I usually have to drive down [near school] on the weekends too so I can hang out with my friends.”

This causes Strader to have to fill up her gas tank once a week, and when she drives on the weekend, maybe once more than that.

Gladstone:

Living in Gladstone means living 35 minutes from school. It means waking up every morning at 5:45 just to be able to eat breakfast. It means leaving for school at 6:45. This is what senior Samantha Adams does every day.

“I have to leave then because it takes me about a half hour to get to school with no traffic,” Adams said. “With traffic, it can take me up to 45 minutes.”

Living far away also means that Adams has to fill up her gas tank in the middle of the week.

“I try to prolong it, but I definitely fill up once a week,” Adams said. “If I drive on the weekend, then I usually have to fill up on Sunday too.”

Sometimes living far away means more inconvenience for Adams than just having to fill up her gas tank more than she would like.

“I’m not very close to the action,” Adams said. “I have to leave an hour ahead of time to get to any event on time. Also, my friends live around school so it stinks that I’m not able to be closer to them.”

Because of this, Adams wishes she did not live so far away from everyone, that maybe once in awhile it would be a little easier to go out on the weekend or to get to school.

Maybe for once she could actually sleep in on late start days instead of still having to wake up early to get to school.