Picture this: You are done with all of your classes for the day and can’t wait to get home to start relaxing.
You walk to your car and when you get there you see something that completely ruins your day: a giant scratch along your car door, a mark made by vandals.

That’s exactly what happened to me one Wednesday afternoon this month. I was ready to hit the road, but when I got to my car, I saw that it had been severely keyed.

The mark stretched from my bumper to the front of the driver’s side door. I drive a black car so the vandalism was extremely noticeable.

However, this column is not about me complaining about my car being vandalized; it’s about making people become more aware of the issue. I personally know six other students who had their cars keyed in the parking lot in recent weeks.

This is a huge issue that can potentially affect anyone who drives to Paly. I paid $100 to park in the parking lot and my car isn’t even safe?

Jealousy, hatred, and pure insecurity could have something to do with the recent vandalism. However, much of it could have to do with personal issues. Students who dislike other students may seek revenge by vandalizing cars. But the question is why or how does that make them feel better? And how are they getting away with it?

Palo Alto is stereotyped as a town full of big houses and nice cars, so it’s somewhat expected that the high school parking lot will also be filled with flashy cars. When you drive a nice car to school, it’s more vulnerable to getting keyed. However, the car you drive, whether it be an old car or a new car is your personal property, and should be protected by the school.

This is destructive behavior and something needs to be done to stop it. By keying my car, or anyone else’s all you are doing are putting the debt on their parents, who are not involved in any high school drama.

Senior Emily Kaiser had her car vandalized, with profanities scratched into the hood. Neither the front office nor the police could do anything about her situation because she had no suspects. Kaiser finds the vandalism wrong and immature. "If you don’t like me fine," Kaiser said. "But it’s not right to destroy my personal property, it costs me money."

Senior Alex Gibson agrees with Kaiser. "It’s an immature and destructive way of dealing with problems and accomplishes nothing."

The problem is huge, but fixable. The administration agrees. "It’s one of those things that we think is horrific," Principal Scott Laurence said. "We are talking about security camera’s in the parking lot, and starting Thursday, May 12, security guards will monitor the parking lot at night."

In my opinion having security guards at night does little to stop vandalism to cars. Laurence says the nighttime security will help protect against future senior pranks.

I would feel much better about leaving my car all day if I knew their was some sort of implemented security measures, such as camera’s or daytime security guards.

As for me, my car won’t be fixed until I leave for college. My parents don’t want to pay the money when it could happen again, and I don’t blame them. But let’s hope that something is done about the problem at hand and this kind of vandalism (or any kind for that matter) won’t happen to anyone again.