Students trudge through the mountains of gravel and dust in order to get to their classes in WS’s trailer park—excuse me—“Sparta.”

This past summer, the administration finally got its backhoes and front end loaders running when they began their long and brutal journey to renovate the small FCPS school known as WS.

Unfortunately, the renovations will be taking a few years, so students will have to attend school with the construction going on all around them. Thus, resulting in the majority of students getting thrown into trailers all the way in the old softball field, as far away from the school as possible.

Between the large number of students here and the overcrowded staircase leading into Sparta, most of us tend to be late when going into and out of the trailer park.

The first few days of school were a nightmare. Students of all grades, not just the freshmen, were running in random directions, confused out of their minds trying to find their classes, causing them to be extremely late.

Although the frenzy of the first few days of the Sparta experience have since ended, it still takes well over seven minutes to get to class. The only way out of the school to get to Sparta is through the claustrophobic tunnel known as Door Five.

Between the thumping sounds from the tunnel above you and the crowds hustling to get through, it’s really just a matter of time before the entire tunnel collapses.

So not only do students have to shove open the heavy doors that lead out to Sparta, they also have to rush to make the long walk to class. Once outside, students walk through the scenic route to the old softball field.

On one side there is a giant gray fence that stands alone and creates less space for students to walk. On the other side, you have giant construction machines making thundering sounds as they transfer dirt from one side of the field to the other. How picturesque.

All in all, students tend to be very late to their classes and some teachers are not happy to see students walking in after the bell rings.

The problem is that time between classes cannot be extended because if it is lengthened, either the school day would be extended, which would probably drive every student insane since we are already stuck in here for seven hours, or the school year would be extended, which would probably bring students to either start a riot or a protest since we already get out so late in comparison to other schools in the country.

Basically, nothing can be done to extend time between classes and we are all stuck having to push through students and backpacks just to get to a class you most likely don’t even want to go to.

I wish every student the best of luck as we collectively drag ourselves through the mounds of dirt at WS.