Graduation Traffic Jam

Woodland Hills High School celebrated its 2011 commencement Friday, and thanks to a perfect azure sky, tinted by a receding sun, festivities took place outside. Throngs of parents and friends swarmed the school.

So many people came, in fact, that the high school’s parking lot was packed by 6 p.m., an hour before commencement was scheduled to begin. 

As students reported to their homerooms, and the school’s TV network started a live broadcast of the event, graduating seniors seemed unaware that Greensburg Pike was lined with cars in both directions, and traffic was gridlocked. Even the driveway was jammed with sports cars and minivans. Minutes passed, and drivers leaned out their windows, cursing in the sultry evening air.

This was a landmark commencement, if only because of Woodland High School’s dramatically bipolar year: On the one hand, Woodland excelled in mock trial, The was named second best student newspaper by the Keystone Press Awards, and the school’s production of Phantom of the Opera swept the . On the other hand, the school has faced crisis-level problems and a Woodland student had been

“There’s a church a little ways down,” a Churchill police officer advised a driver at 6:54 p.m. “Parking there is probably your best bet.”

By that point, drivers were making U-turns and heading for side streets, yet a long queue of vehicles continued to idle in the hopes of parking nearby. As the clock struck 7 p.m., families arrived on foot, having stashed their cars anywhere they could. They jogged the sidewalks and descended the wide lawns around Woodland. Graduation only happens once, and these parents wouldn’t miss it for the world.