I walk out of my house with the cold air hitting my legs and my cheer bow bouncing up and down on the back of my head. I sit in my mom’s car and start adjusting all my materials. It’s 8:10 and we’re rushing to get out the door because my mom overslept, and we are now running late. 

As we pull out of our neighborhood, I remember my pink car keys simply sitting on my dark wooden desk. 

If only I could drive myself to school. 

After passing my driver’s test during one hot summer day and officially becoming another licensed driver in the state of California, I was excited to no longer have to worry about who was picking me up or dropping me off at school. 

I was looking forward to stopping by Starbucks before class to buy a Mango Dragonfruit Refresher, but Venice does not have a student parking lot. 

While I could always park two blocks away from Venice, I also don’t want to walk by the encampments in Venice full of homeless people. Much less walk back in the dark with even less people around me with the darkness of the night serving as a protector from all the homeless people that are out at night.

I get it. I could park around the school but here’s the thing. All the streets around Venice are limited to two-hour parking and can only exceed that limit with a pass that obviously no Venice student can get their hands on. The closest parking is at least two blocks down from the school and at that point, there’s no point to driving if you’d still have to walk to school.

It also doesn’t help that I can’t have any self defense tools at school. I’m not complaining because obviously weapons at school are not allowed, but I am saying that it would be nice to have something to defend myself with for a worst case scenario. 

If only Venice had something where I’d be able to not worry about walking alone to my car. If only Venice had a way to help student drivers. If only I didn’t have to fear for my safety— all because I didn’t want to worry my parents about who will be picking me up. 

But no. Venice doesn’t have a student parking lot for now.

Obviously teachers are just as important, but it would be nice for both groups to be able to park on campus and feel secure about walking to their car. Even working towards building a separate area for student parking down the line would prove so beneficial for all student drivers at Venice.