Your senior summer is coming to an end, and it's about that time to pack up and get ready to leave for college. You take your final days to say goodbye to your family, close friends, and spend time at the parks and schools in which you grew up. Finally, the day is here, the car is packed, you shut the light off in your room, and you get in the car. Your mother and father start to get choked up and you try to restrain your own sadness. You"re almost free and clear and you steal a glimpse over your shoulder at your pride and joy, your car. At this point you realize you can't live without it but there is nothing you can do because James Madison University rules clearly state that all first year students can't bring their cars to campus.
Does this story ring a bell because to many students it does? A matter of fact 24 out of 25 students in Weaver Hall when surveyed agreed that they wished they had their car with them. One student, Blake Nicosia said, "Leaving my car was the hardest part about going to college, the first thing I did when I got down here was put up a picture of my car on my desk, I can't wait until next year when I will have it with me." In the first few nights at JMU these students don't show their emotions about their car because of the overwhelming amount of activities going on and parties happening all around them but once classes begin the students start to suffer from something I like to call being "carsick". They start to call home and complain about how they need their car and that they want to come home soon but they have no ride. The stress begins now for both the students and for their parents. Something needs to be done to cure this disease of being "carsick" before the stress brings about bigger problems. Offering first year students the option to bring their cars to campus would make students much happier; their families a lot less stressed and at the same time bring an end to this horrifying disease.
