Students at TRHS have to go through chaotically packed stairwells to get to class every day. The stairs are constantly full when the bell rings for each hour, and students are not happy about it. 

Around 1,550 students attend Thunder Ridge and most use the main stairwell to get to their next class. With the stairs connected to 3 floors, students file in and out on all floors. This leads to slow-moving traffic jams where students mosey along, a lot like a herd of cows grazing a field. Some students that don’t even need to use the stairs to get to their next class stand in front of the stairwell doors to chat and block students from going in and out of the doors. 

Students have expressed how challenging it is to get to their next class in 4 minutes, especially when they have to go more than 2 floors up. Students have been advised to try and use other stairwells at school to help with the big crowd, but it hasn’t been very effective. Some teachers will wait in the hallways and help move traffic along, but students mostly ignore the direction. 

  Anniston Branson, a sophomore at TRHS, has to use the main stairwell every day and has gotten tired of the packed slow-moving crowds that use the stairs. Branson said, “The stairs are pretty bad but it is the worst when someone stops in front of you when you go up or down the stairs and run into their backpack and almost trip.”