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Shorecrest’s Junior Lot is well-known for being muddy, ant-ridden and what students see as “miles” off campus.

    “The gravel is pretty annoying, especially when it’s raining, and it’s even more irritating to people with lower cars,” junior Ryan Jaffee said.

     The most common assumption is simply that it’s a failure on Shorecrest’s part. However, most Upper School students have little awareness of the real reasons their favorite shoes were ruined that muddy morning.

          Sophomores and juniors have used this unpaved lot, nicknamed the “Junior Lot,” since the 1970s. However, Shorecrest doesn’t own this land. In reality, Duke Energy rents the land to the school.

     This agreement restricts what Shorecrest can do with the lot. 

     “We’re not allowed to do anything permanent,” US Head Dean and 12th Grade Dean Stacy Alexander said.

     However, gravel and mud aren’t the only problems. Insufficient space also leaves juniors and sophomores with grievances. 

     “It’s sometimes fine when the juniors are the only ones parking there, but when the 

sophomores started filling it up in the second semester as well, it was pretty bad,” junior Ryan Flugel said. “I also had to move my car the other day because they had a dumpster in the middle of the junior lot, and they didn’t put up any cones or anything to warn me I couldn’t park there.”

     Yet, there may be hope for a resolution of these problems. Shorecrest is currently planning to add more parking spots throughout campus using HKS, a global consulting firm that the school uses for campus planning.

     “HKS is working with us to find ways to maximize our parking,” Head of School Nancy Spencer said. “It’s exciting. We’re really trying to make the experience better for both kids and adults.”

     For now, though, students will have to make due with the Junior Lot.

     “I’m super grateful to have somewhere to park at all,” Flugel said.