After a year-and-a-half, students are finally back in school! Changes are everywhere – students and teachers wear masks, free lunch is available to everyone, and using paper is discouraged. There is one change that is frustrating students and teachers alike. The halls seem really crowded.

The halls have always been crowded as hundreds of students transition. But this year they feel more crowded.

“It has been a while since we have been in school, so the halls feel foreign to everyone,” senior Alyssa Venzor said. 

During quarantine, social distancing was common practice. When students came back for the second semester last year, one-way halls were established to maintain social distancing. Now, students are greeted by huge groups of students mingling in the commons upon entering the front doors. Transition time has not changed and traffic jams form in different parts of each hall. 

Some students are no longer intimidated by the obvious lack of social distancing. 

“I don’t feel anxious anymore, especially since I’m vaccinated,” Venzor said. “I don’t like being crowded though.”

Some, however, feel testy about the crowded space. 

“I still feel uneasy in crowded places,” U.S. history teacher Manuel Delgadillo said. “It does get a little concerning to see a lack of social distancing, both out in the hallways and in classrooms (especially with big class sizes).”

Now that students are dealing with the crowds that happen in high schools, natural selection is back. Students resort to two different roles – the pusher and the pushed. 

“I am normally a pusher,” senior Marcus Rodarte said. 

Venzor however, has a different story.

 “I am for sure the pushed, plus with my height it’s always happening.”

Some have a ready solution. 

“I think if they gave students more time to get to their classes then the hallways would be less crowded,” Rodarte said. 

People have also discussed the possibility of re-establishing one-way halls. 

“It’s definitely a way to try to control the flow of traffic but I do wonder how it would play out with some students coming from the portables or the Fine Arts building,” Delgadillo said.  

Despite all the negativity about the situation, there are some positives to the crowded halls.

August was the first time in almost two years that students got to mingle in hallways together, laughing and talking as if nothing had changed. The crowded halls gave some students a sentimental feeling.

“I don’t like being in them, but I did miss hearing the hallways full of sound. It’s good to have students back,” Delgadillo said.

“It reminds me that we’re all together,” Venzor said.