Painting reserved parking spots has been a growing trend at high schools across the country. This year, Newton joined in on the idea, and will repeat it next year to raise money for the student council. More than 30 students purchased and customized their own parking spots to be reserved for the year. Students personalized their spots with unique paintings that they felt represented them.

“I love it so much because it’s so convenient. I’m always late and last year I would always be stressing about finding a parking spot and then if I did find one it was really far away from the school and then I’d have to run to class. Now it’s fairly close and I just pull up and walk to class and it’s fine,” junior Jada Berry said.

Berry was one of the first students to purchase a spot and claims she will purchase one for next year also. However, the overall cost of the spot could be enough to deter some students.

“I don’t know how much it cost exactly, but it was definitely more than $100. It was more than I thought it was going to be because I didn’t realize I was going to use that much paint and I used a lot of different colors, but I still think it was worth it. Honestly, I think it just depends on how much you’re willing to spend on it,” Berry said.

Principal Lisa Moore agreed that the parking spot fundraiser was successful, and decided to add a bonus for students that purchased spots this year.

“Last year the juniors paid $50 for the spots plus painting supplies, so if they wanted to renew a spot we would just charge you $25 to renew a reserved spot if you already have one. If anyone has never had a spot and wants to get one, it’s $50.”

The spots that are already painted will have to be painted over for next year.

“The best case scenario was by the end of the year those spots would be gone because they would have been covered by snow, ice and salt and scraped over and they would have disintegrated. We had no snow and then we hardly had any rain through the winter, so the spots still look pretty good. I think the students will be painting over them with black paint,” Moore said.

StuCo sponsor Chris Wedel was also pleased with the outcome of the fundraiser. The council raised $1600 this year from the fundraiser alone, and hopes to see more students purchase parking spots next year.