With lunch lines, parking lot traffic and crowded walkways looking more like a Disney theme park than a high school, the campus is more packed than ever before. The freshman class alone is made up of more than 740 students – the most any class has ever had. As a result, the student body has reached nearly 2600 students, also the highest in school history. 

To put this into perspective, freshmen classes typically start out with 600 students, which would put our population closer to 2,300, the number of students the school has been used to the last few years. As of right now, there are well over 150 more students than normal on campus. 

In the past, many students took classes virtually due to COVID-19. Now, the majority of those students are coming back face-to-face. Other students choose to take their core classes online and their electives on campus, meaning this year’s elective classes are the biggest the school has ever seen.  

“They are all here for electives, overwhelmingly, and so it just makes those classes go higher and higher,” principal Robert Frasca said.

These large numbers have made it difficult for administration to accommodate. Just as space in the classrooms is limited, parking spots are also limited for students. There are about 520 spots for students and the school sold nearly 600 passes, with 100 students on a waiting list. This year, because there were so many schedule change requests, counselors decided meeting with students in person would be easier than multiple emails back and forth in order to show students what exactly could be offered.

One difficulty Frasca noted was how hard it has been to determine the upcoming year’s projection. The assistant superintendent explained that all of the high schools in Seminole County are at least 100 students over projection. Frasca admitted he does not know what projection will look like in years to come because of the 15 to 20% of students from other counties that come on campus every year. However, if incoming classes continue to exceed 700, things will have to change on campus.

“We started last year with a few more areas in the courtyard and things like that, to spread kids out,” Frasca said. “So, right now we’re just kind of in a wait-and-see approach and see if this enrollment holds [to see] where we are before we can make any major decisions and figure out what we can do.”