When walking into the hallways of De Soto High School, some of the first things people may notice is the clean hallways or the new announcements on the TV’s. But most importantly, almost everyone notices how crowded the hallways are.

   This year at DHS, the freshman class has surpassed the amount of students any other grade has had before, with a whopping 264 freshmen students.

Every year, the student population seems to get bigger and bigger, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

   “From a curricular standpoint, it gives our students more opportunities to pursue a higher level classroom experience,” Principal Dustin Mortenson said. “Having a large freshman class gets more people involved.”

    Many upperclassmen have noticed that the hallways and the parking lots seem more compact with the new freshman class.

    “It is hard to find parking spots, so I usually plan on coming into school early just to find a parking spot,” sophomore Amanda Franklin said.

    The staff notices the busy hallways as well.

    “The only area that is inconvenient is what we call the crossroads (the main hallway),” Mortenson said.

   So, what is there to do now about the busy parking lot and hallways?

    “Eventually we will add more parking, but at the moment, we haven’t maxed out our parking lot yet,” Mortenson said.