As I walked into CHS on the first day of school, I realized something: either this school is shrinking or its population is expanding. I am not quite sure when I realized this. It might have been when I was standing in shoulder-to-shoulder traffic in the senior hallway. It might have been later on in the day, when the main cafeteria ran out of room for everyone eating C lunch; however, it was probably at the all-school convocation during SRT, which, I will admit, certainly had me wondering about the maximum capacity of the varsity gym. With around 4,700 students and many staff members, I am sure we almost reached capacity.

This probably is not a shock to most people; the growing amount of students in this district is nothing new. And with CNN Money Magazine’s recent ranking of Carmel as the best city to live in, why wouldn’t more people consider moving here? Our schools and our city have a great reputation. But teachers, staff and students will only benefit if the school does something to lower population size or expand the building.

The growing number of students does not just affect hallway traffic, either. Earlier this year, the administration had to change lunch times on Blue Days so everyone could have a chair and a table to sit at in our three cafeterias. The number of parking passes for students has been reduced due to construction of the new weight facility, which will only make parking at the stadium more crowded and potentially more dangerous. In addition to these student parking problems, the teacher parking around the Freshman Center seems less than ideal. Parallel parking close to a student drop-off zone couldn’t be fun.

It is also important to remember how this population increase limits extracurricular activities, too. This year, over 1,000 students applied to be in the House of Representatives. Around 430 students made it. Coaches continue to cut many athletes, because some just weren’t good enough. While this is a good formula for winning school awards, it doesn’t really encourage shy or uninvolved students to participate in the events that make this school great.

It can be argued that taking the necessary steps to fix the problem would not be ideal. Many people would be against splitting the school because this would split Carmel’s accomplishments as well, and more students at Carmel could be seen as a benefit to the school. There is more diversity, higher test scores, a wider range of athletes to make the teams and a greater number of people to meet.

However, the consequences of continued growth at the school outweigh the benefits. We could split the high school, just like Hamilton Southeastern did a few years ago. In fact, in the future Carmel may have to do just that. However, for the time being, the school really just needs to expand. Instead of building a new weight room, it should expand the designated room for academic areas or crowded hallways. Construction is bearable, but neglecting obvious reasons on why Carmel needs to expand is not.

If Carmel would expand the building, people could spread out in the hallways. All students would be able to access their lockers with greater ease. More classrooms would mean fewer teachers who have to share rooms. A new cafeteria would allow students to easily find a table or a seat. If something as simple as rearranging the lunch schedule benefited that many students, imagine what else could happen to make life easier. I am not saying we have to start tearing up the school right now, but we need to have a plan in place for when there are even more kids in the district. What will Carmel be like in 10 years if nothing changes? Worse than it should be.