by Gillian Cutter

All she wanted to do was get to the gym to watch her fellow Stars play, but little did she know it would be such a struggle just to get down there.

“Since there’s no elevator in Goppert, I had to hop down two flights of stairs with a very heavy cast on,” junior Melissa Le said. “It was honestly scary. I thought I might injure myself further and all I could think about was whether I was going to fall or not.”

Two STA students are currently injured to where it’s difficult for them to walk. Juniors, Melissa Le, with a broken fibula, and Mallory Radtke, with a torn ACL and meniscus, have hurt their legs. Having three buildings with more than one level and only two elevators on campus, STA may be more challenging than other schools campus wise. But just how difficult is it?

STA has four buildings on campus, 356 stairs (excluding fourth floor of M&A) and in an average day one can walk up and down 50 staircases easily. This may be a simple task for someone without an injury or someone who’s not handicapped, but for those who are, this can be a challenging situation.

“With five minute passing periods it’s impossible for me to get to class on time, unless I leave class early,” Le said. “Even with the elevators.”

There are currently no handicapped or disabled girls that attend STA.

With 356 stairs to walk up and down multiple times a day, at times life can be rough for healthy students. How would disabled people feel?

“My backpack weighs exactly 26 pounds,” said freshman Zoe Jackson. “I have osgood-schlatter disease in my knees so sometimes it hurts really bad to walk up the stairs, especially with my backpack.”

With no elevator or even ramps in Goppert Center, travel can be difficult for injured people with classes in Egner or advisories in the gym.

“If you’re in a wheelchair like I was, you have to go all the way around to the backside of the gym to get in,” Le said. “I think an elevator would be a great addition and for the handicapped people it would be a necessity.”

Radtke and Le were both in wheelchairs and then later moved on to crutches. With both of these situations they’re not ready to walk up or down stairs.

“I never realized there was no elevator in Goppert,” Jackson said. “Also, the ramps into the buildings are very steep. I don’t think I would be able to cut corners like that if I were in a wheelchair.”

Le didn’t fall down the stairs when going to watch the basketball game that night. And she ended up rooting for her Stars on the bench.

“Thank goodness I didn’t fall,” Le said. “But if I had fallen, I would have been very embarrassed. (laughs)”