A new year at Panther Creek brings in a new set of issues, and among these is the large amount of new students: there are currently 873 registered freshmen at Panther Creek, 104 more freshman students than the previous year. There is also a noticeable increase in the amount of tenth grade students: 157 more sophomores pack the halls of PCHS this school year. In total, there are 2,905 students currently attending Panther Creek, compared to the 2,591 of last year (an increase of about 12%). This sudden onslaught of new students brings about a number of potential problems, and we set out to discover how these packed hallways are affecting students and staff.

We interviewed students to see if their experience reflected the population statistics at Panther Creek. Junior Jack Stormen, spoke about the effect this had on his learning experience at Panther Creek, “The overcrowding at the school affects academic performance because of the inability to focus with all the noise,” and he later added, “there is no quiet learning environment because of the amount of people in each classroom.” When we spoke with Sydney Rush, a senior, she told us that, “Off-campus lunch is better because the school is making an effort to get people off quickly with the staggered bell schedule,” but mentioned that, “getting to class is not that easy, I usually take less-populated routes.”

To get a staff member’s perspective, we spoke with Ms. Oviatt, an English teacher. “There are more students coming to SMART Lunch at this point in the year, compared to last year. It seems that the school is making more of an effort to encourage kids to go to SMART Lunch than previously,” she explained. We also spoke with a member of the cafeteria staff, Naila Ndupu. She commented that there isn’t much of a change for her, “There’s a couple hundred more people, but it’s manageable for the cafeteria staff.”

Upperclassmen are not the only ones wanting to jump ship in this sea of students. Freshman student Ben Schade said, ”There are so many students in SMART Lunch that there are often not enough seats.” Sophomore Liz Howard had similar sentiments, pointing out, “There are a lot more students in SMART Lunch this year, mainly in math and psychology classes.”

Whether it’s long lines in the cafeteria, crowded halls, or distracting classroom environments, the sudden inundation of students impacts both the staff and student body in numerous ways. And while the administration has put in efforts to reduce the resulting negative effects of the thriving student populace, there might be too many monkeys in this barrel for them to handle.