For some students that don’t live by West, driving to school can be a pain in the butt.

From living by Dimond, to living by East, to living by Bartlett, all those drives can get on people’s nerves. Students complain how they are always late in the mornings because they live so far away from the school, when they could be going to the school that is closest to them. The main reason why some students live so far is because they have been put in a special program that only West offers.

A senior at West, Nasim Falconer is zoned for Dimond says “it takes me about 20 minutes to get to school, 15 if I speed.” She wishes she lived closer to West because she could sleep 30 minutes longer, come home for lunch, and not have to worry as much for being late to school. The only reason she goes to West is because she is in the Spanish Immersion program, she has been in this program since kindergarten and has been driving a long way to get to school ever since. Dimond definitely is not her school of choice. She would much rather go to West because she grew up with the people from the immersion program and wouldn’t drop it just so she could go to a school that is closer, and a school where she doesn’t know anyone.

After 13 years of driving 20- 30 minutes to get to school, she is used to it but still wishes she would live closer to the school she is attending. The long drive and rough mornings are worth being in the program.

Emma Clyne is a junior at West, lives all the way by Bartlett and is zoned for there. It usually takes her 20 minutes to get to school and she is so tired of it, she said “If I wasn’t in the Spanish Immersion program, I would definitely just go to Bartlett.” Even if she could move closer to West and stay at West, she would rather just live at the house she is living in now, and go to Bartlett.

Emma has also been in this program since kindergarten but she still hasn’t gotten used to the long drives every morning and every afternoon. She knows that being in this program, and being able to speak a second language fluently will benefit her in her life so she as well says all that driving is worth being in the program.

“I hate living by East and having to go to West,” says senior Kimberly Michaca. Kimberly lives almost 30 minutes away from West and is just sick and tired of it, she is ready to graduate just so she doesn’t have to drive so far everyday. She says that there is always so much traffic in the morning and it just gets frustrating. She is the oldest sister out of three, and they all go to the Spanish Immersion schools that are far away from their house, so her parents would do a lot of driving before Kimberly got her license.

Meghan Matyas is a sophomore at West and is in the highly gifted program; unfortunately she lives about 25 minutes away from West. Meghan doesn’t really mind the long drive because she really enjoys driving, especially now since she just got her license. She decided to come to West because she didn’t want to do what her older brother did and leave the program to go to East. Meghan said, “All my friends go to West are in the program so I really don’t mind.”

Although the majority students find it a pain to drive really far to go to school, some really don’t. Students must really love the program they are in to stay in it for so long and find it worth the long drive.