An AT student recently created an Instagram account dedicated to pointing out and making light of the subpar parking jobs frequently found in the student parking lot at school.
The account, bearing the handle athsparking, posts photo submissions of botched parking attempts by AT’s driving students, all of whom are newly licensed to drive. Now with over 260 followers, the account’s owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, feels that they have received an incredibly positive reaction.
“I’ve only gotten really good feedback. Tons of people have told me that this account is hilarious,” said the owner.
Photos on the account are of all different varieties. They range from minor infractions, such as cars whose wheels just barely rolled onto the line, to more serious situations, including a staged picture of a car that appears to have hit senior Mateo Gomez, who is laying on the ground in front of a car in the photo.
The account has even captured a few real parking jobs that were almost accidents, such as a photo of the front of senior Matthew Sobus’s car parked just millimeters away from the back bumper of another vehicle.
No matter the severity of the error, the photos are always captioned with brief, lighthearted statements of mockery, such as “Try a little harder next time,” “No,” “ Try not to park like this at homecoming,” or “That’s embarrassing.”
Senior Andrea Parent, who follows the account, rates each parking fail in the comments.
“I find it hilarious to rate each parking job, especially when it’s one of my friends,” she said. “If it makes me laugh I’ll give it a higher rating and if they did awful they’ll get a lower rating.”
The owner of the account cites starting up the account after seeing so many cars parked incorrectly.
“After coming into the parking lot so many times and seeing all of the bad parking jobs, I thought, ‘Something has to be done about this,'” they said.
Students expressed liking for being called out in such a fun way.
“I thought it was hilarious to see my car posted,” said senior Bella Rojas. Rojas’s car was shown parked outside the lines, with the driver’s side door inches from another car. “I was crammed into such a tight space that I had to crawl over to the passenger’s side to get out of the car. Seeing that picture resurfaced all of those embarrassing memories.”
The owner of the account agreed that students being posted on the account is extremely amusing.
“No one actually cares how badly someone parks,” they said. “ It has just become a running joke and now everyone loves it.”
The parking account is not the only student run instagram account associated with AT. Pages such as Blazer Blue on Film, which highlights events throughout the year and pages for various clubs and sports also create opportunities for Blazers to enjoy events or occurrences happening at the school.
Students ultimately felt that AT social media has a positive effect on the student body.
“These accounts have a positive effect by providing students with information about upcoming events and getting them engaged with activities surrounding our school,” said Parent.
“I think its fun that we have a lighthearted page like this where we can bond over poor parking jobs and laugh at some of our peers,” Rojas added.
The account’s owner left some parking advice for other students.
“Make sure you’re not featured on the account next,” they said.
