You quickly write down the last of your notes as you hear the bell ring for the end of the first period, and you head to your next class. You maneuver out of the way of some students heading towards you, but then you arrive at the C-Wing Intersection, and things start to slow down. After a couple of shoves and near run-ins, you finally receive enough walking room to exit the junction. Still, you can not walk as fast as you want, and there are people in front of you who refuse to move out of the way.

I have had this experience since my second day at East. As a result, I have always been slightly annoyed at East’s hallway situation (especially at the C-Wing intersection), and I believe that others are too. 

I often hear fellow students yell “Move!” in the hallway, and I even occasionally witness people shoving others. It’s safe to say that most people are not comfortable with East’s hall traffic situation.

The most obvious reason for East’s hallway traffic is that people simply refuse to keep moving. People sometimes stand in the middle of hallways, chatting with others or doing something else, ignorant to the fact that people are trying to get around them.

Student Representative Vincent Chen (‘26) seems to agree.

“I feel like the hallways are always cramped because people stand there doing nothing, especially at the C-Wing intersection,” he told Eastside Online.

The issue Chen describes most directly relates to the fact that students will walk in both directions in just one side of the hallway. That’s why the administration should encourage students to walk in one direction on one side of a hallway, and for students to walk in the other direction on the other side of a hallway.

And, instead of chatting in the middle of the hall, the administration should encourage students to chat on the side. Alternatively, students should just keep walking and keep their discussions for lunch or afterschool.

Though this situation should be acknowledged by East’s administration, students can start taking the initiative to make our hallways more free-flowing too. If you consider performing the actions aforementioned, and even encourage other students to do so, we may be able to decrease hallway traffic once and for all.