Students with a long commute:

Noel Mulder (Nadia Schneider)

Noel Mulder

Noel Mulder is a senior who lives in the RHS district but came to LHS because of the Spanish Immersion program. Every day, it takes her between 15-30 minutes to drive to school, as the time it takes her to get there depends on the day. She lives about nine miles away from LHS.
“Sometimes it can take me 30 minutes to get to school because of really bad traffic or construction,” said Mulder.
Fortunately for Mulder, she does not have to worry about trying to get home for lunch during a 50-minute class period, as her schedule this year only requires her to come to school for periods one, two and three.
“Last year, I only had one period of open lunch and was never able to go home because [I would only have about five minutes there]. Instead, I would go out to eat with friends, go to my mom’s work because it’s close to Lincoln or just go and eat my lunch in the band room,” said Mulder.
On her drives, Mulder enjoys listening to different types of music to entertain her.
“I typically listen to a country radio station, but sometimes when I get bored of listening to country, I’ll connect my phone to Bluetooth and listen to my own music off of Spotify,” said Mulder.

Weston Shaw (Nadia Schneider)

Weston Shaw

A senior at LHS, Weston Shaw’s home attendance school is JHS. He has to drive more than eight miles to get to school each day, which takes him about half an hour. Although this drive may seem long, he was able to stay with his middle school friends by coming to LHS.
“I open enrolled to Edison as part of the honors program there. [Even though] Edison stopped strongly encouraging honors kids to go directly to Lincoln the same year I finished middle school, most of the kids I knew were in the LHS district,” said Shaw.
Since many of Shaw’s friends planned to attend LHS, he decided to go there as well, even if it was not the designated place for honors students anymore.
“I really just chose Lincoln because most of my friends were here. I am glad I stuck with them!” said Shaw.
On Shaw’s 30-minute rides to school each day, he generally decides to sit in silence in his car.
“I did try listening to the radio for a while, but it’s all boring talk shows in the morning, so I gave up,” said Shaw.
Shaw’s home is too far away from LHS for him to go home for open lunch on the rare occasion that he has it.
“I’m in a choir ensemble, so I only get open lunch about once a week. I pretty much always eat Culver’s when I have open lunch, and I eat with my friends at school when I don’t,” said Shaw.

Jenna Jal (Nadia Schneider)

Jenna Jal

Jenna Jal is a junior at LHS whose home attendance school is in Tea. Driving about 18 miles one-way on the interstate to get to LHS, it takes Jal 30 minutes to get to school in the morning because of the heavy traffic. Even though this is a big time commitment, it has thoroughly benefited Jal academically.
“[I’ve always gone to Sioux Falls schools because] I was accepted to be a part of the Spanish Immersion program. Therefore, instead of going to Worthing Elementary School and then Tea for both middle school and high school, I attended Rosa Parks, Sonia Sotomayor, Edison and now Lincoln,” said Jal.
She enjoys listening to podcasts on her long drives every day.
“I like to listen to Chris Williamson’s podcast since he covers very interesting topics, as well as crime podcasts,” said Jal.
Since Jal lives too far away to go home for open lunch, she decided not to have a lunch period this year and to instead have a study hall during seventh in which she can leave school early.
“This eliminates the stress of making a decision on where to go during the day for my lunch or just sitting in my car, and it allows me to be very productive,” said Jal.

Lincoln High School Statesman

Lincoln High School Statesman

Lincoln High School Statesman

Lincoln High School Statesman