As years go by, Reagan continues to have more and more students in classes. However, classrooms are starting to fill up with students.

Many students are eager to come to Reagan and it seems everybody that asks gets a yes.

I go to Career Center for morning classes, then later come back to Reagan for the rest of the day. This means I can only come to afternoon tutoring, when it’s available, although many times, teachers are already helping students and it is difficult to get the direct help I need.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad that so many people want to be a part of the Raider community, but it’s important that students get the assistance they need to be able to achieve.

“I enjoy teaching more students because I have the chance to get to know them, but it’s hard when they’re in one group,” chemistry teacher Susan Buchanan said. “I would much rather have four smaller classes than three larger ones.”

If the overflowing, slow-motion mosh pit wasn’t evidence enough of the abundance of students at Reagan, then the fact that over 400 students are in each grade level should be.

The 2007-08 school year had a total of 1431 students. Now so far this school year there are 2016. That is approximately a 71 percent increase over the span of 10 years.

Junior Adriene Locke, said she feels Reagan is too crowded and notices more people in the hallway. Extra desks had to be brought into one of her classes because they ran out of room.

Overall the amount of students each class has is changing. This depends on the classes taken. I have found that the larger classes are ones that students must have for graduation requirements.

“Most of my regular classes like chemistry or civics have 25-32 students, but then in my dance class there are only 17 people,” sophomore Maggie Vaughan said.

Students aren’t the only ones affected by sizes of classrooms either. Teachers, who we depend on to teach us effectively, sometimes struggle with increased classes.

“Research says the most important factor in achievement for students is building a relationship between the teacher and the student,” English teacher Marilyn Mercer said. “Therefore, the fewer students you have, the better chances you have of building a relationship with each one individually.”

Multiple teachers at Reagan share classrooms. This brings extra stress to teachers because they don’t get to spend their planning period in their room. For example, science teachers that share classrooms don’t have the opportunity to set up labs for their next period ahead of time.

On the other hand, some teachers and students haven’t seen a change from past years.

“It comes in waves. Two years ago I felt I had a large class, and now it seems about the same as last year,” Civics and Economics teacher Christian Borkowski said.

Freshman biology teacher Anne Kennedy said she has about the same amount of students in her classes.

Class sizes may not be changing drastically, but the school is having to hire more teachers. This year, there are over 20 new teachers. This is not negative, but instead it reflects the opportunities we are creating.

Mercer said that our student body is so well behaved and driven, she doesn’t feel crowded.

The overflow of Reagan seems like it will continue until something has to be done. Some of these solutions could be new renovations, like adding more hallways or even trailers, which will cost a good amount of money.

It’s no question more people are moving into the Pfafftown area, and this results in more students coming to RHS. Eventually Reagan will have to expand or cut off the amount of students accepted here, but that seems to be something thought of in the future.

“I feel like we are pushing capacity, but we are okay right now,” Buchanan said.