On Thursday and Friday, the parking lot will be extremely empty due to the number of students making their way to Rapid City for the state basketball tournament. Although the ample amount of parking spots is a plus, it is unfortunate that many students can not attend state because they are not able to miss the two days of school. If our teams make it to state, it should be possible for all students to attend the games.

There are a few times a year where a student has to make a choice: do I miss a few days of school for state or will I need these excused dates for a later use? Around state volleyball, there were many students who were upset they could not attend the games in Brookings. I wanted to go, but there was no way I could afford to miss the school time considering I already miss enough school for the entire Statesman staff.

Now, for the second time this year, I had to make a decision on whether or not to make the trip to Rapid City and miss two days of school. I weighed the pros and cons, and I decided that Katie Kroeze would probably make us do a ridiculous amount of work in those two days so I chose to stay behind. As a senior who would not attend another LHS basketball game again, I was pretty upset to say the least.

When our teams are in Sioux Falls for state, we have half days so the students have an opportunity to go watch. However, when it involved a drive we are told that we must use up some of our precious sick days to go watch. There has to be some sort of happy medium so that we can pack the arena and give our teams the home court advantage.

I understand that calling off school for two days is probably not the best idea, but it should be encouraged for students to make the trip to state tournaments. Whether that be to make the school days as state tournament friendly as possible to the kids that can make the trip, or having a series of half days so the students are not missing an insane amount of work.

It is unfortunate that a number of kids are not able to attend state. Most of these students are seniors who are stressing about how close AP tests are, what college they are going to and how they are going to afford being an adult in less than three months. Watching our team win the state championship would be one of the best stress relievers for these students. Hopefully there is some sort of happy medium met within the next couple of years where our students do not have to fret about their school work and can attend the tournaments.