Lamar reopens at 100% capacity for the school year

After a year of online learning, Lamar High School has reopened to full capacity. However, the combination of the large student population and the limited stairwells meant the first week of school was packed with people, creating complications. 

“It’s insane how crowded it was,” senior Nicolas Ventura said. “I was late to all my classes and it takes me 25 minutes to get out of the parking garage after school. It wasn’t this crowded in the old building.”

Hallways were packed tight, making it impossible to social distance in the building. 

“I’m worried about COVID-19,” senior Jennifer Villanueva said. “On the first day, my parents kept texting me to remind me to social distance, but there’s literally no way to in the hallways because there are so many people.”

Most students stayed online last year, which made going back in-person a shock, especially with the massive volume of people. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen people that I’m so overwhelmed in these huge crowds,” Jennifer said. “I haven’t been in a crowd this large since 2019.”

While the first week of school is always particularly hectic, with students figuring out the campus, students are unsure whether things will ever settle down.

“I really hope things die down; I can’t keep getting through school like this,” Jennifer said. “I literally have to shove my way through groups and groups of people to even make it to my class. I don’t even try to make it on time anymore; it’s useless, especially if I’m going from the new building to the North building.”

Nicolas says it is futile trying to fight the crowd.

“I don’t think it’s going to magically get less crowded,” he said. “We will just have to get used to the huge crowds at the stairwells and at the skywalk. That’s just Lamar.”