Senior year is full of opportunities.  Announcing on Facebook and twitter that you are part of the Class of 20…. is an opportunity to say “I have arrived.” Prom is the opportunity to spend a special night with that special someone and all your friends.  All of this comes with a price including $30 for a parking pass. The school should offer them another perfect opportunity by offering them painted parking spots.

High schools such as Woodrow Wilson, Coppell, Denton and Rockwall allow seniors to paint the storage space for parking as the start to their last year of high school. Doing this allows the school to raise money for senior activities such as prom, senior trips and other senior activities. Currently parking spots at the school are $30. No one wants to pay that for a spot that others can randomly take.  If seniors were allowed to individualize their spots and make them  decorative and festive, showing off  their pride as a senior they might just pay even more for the spot. Seniors love to flaunt their seniority status. This is the perfect way for them too do so. Seniors could drive into the parking lot on the first day of school and pull up to their newly painted parking spot. What an incentive to make it to senior year.

Painted spots will also help improve school spirit, which at this point is pretty low among the student body.  Seniors at other schools currently offering this option paint things such as school mascots, teams and organizations they are part of as well as influential quotes in their spots.  Allowing painted spots would in essence encourage seniors to promote the great things they are part of at the high school.

A good way to lure in seniors into paying extra for a painted spot would be to have a painting party. They could invite friends, family and others, like Calgary Painters, to help them paint their spot. The school could provide special paint, food, drinks and even music. The cost would be included in the price of the parking spot. This acts as kind of a back to school kick off party making coming back to school a fun experience, not a dreaded time for students.

Those in opposition of this plan say students will paint inappropriate  things on their spot.  Schools that offer similar plans have it set up where the students enter their idea on a paper and the school either approves or disapproves of it. If the students space doesn’t match what they have entered and/or  doesn’t comply with the rules, then it is washed off and the student is charged an additional $20, which must be cleared in order to graduate. This is a great incentive for students to abide by the parking lot painting rules.

This is a program that is working around the state and more schools are on board with it.  Approval of  senior painted spots will give them more of a sense of belonging and ownership of their spot and ultimately their school.  Every senior would be participating in an instant fundraiser without selling chocolate or other items to support prom and other events.