All views shared in the Opinions section of the Chatterbox belong to their respective authors, and may not represent the views of the publication as a whole.
Regardless of whether it comes in the form of a circle where John Chambers conducts traffic like an orchestra, a market where students destress with candy after school, or just a street that is lined bumper-to-bumper twice every school day, Blair is a staple of the WHHS lifestyle.
The name’s significance, however, stretches beyond just the lives of WHHS students. Blair Street serves as a home for dozens of families who are forced to coexist with student traffic that packs the street nearly every day.
“I used to go to Walnut, there really are no advantages to living so close though,” Mitzi Hickland, a Blair Street resident, said. “Traffic is a problem for me depending on what time I’m coming home. If I come home during the time that you guys are getting out of school the traffic is very heavy.”
Considering that Blair Street is one of the primary ways into the school, the sheer 3000 people who make up the WHHS population make it look like a Taylor Swift concert venue just let out onto the road. This collection of new drivers and young carpoolers moving at a snail’s pace seems to be a large caveat to the Blair Street lifestyle.
“It can be annoying living so close because of the traffic, it affects me a lot,” Olivia Nelson, a Norwood High School student living on Blair, said. “I kind of have to schedule my mornings around it.”
While many patrons acknowledge the logistical problems with living on Blair Street, some residents, like Annie Whitmier, see nothing other than the silver lining.
“It’s busy, yes, but it’s a good busy,” Whitmier said. “Knowing that if people see a stranger trying to get into my house, someone is always watching. I like it because it’s busy.”
This sense of safety and concern between the students and neighbors of WHHS, however, is not one-sided. It’s a mutual relationship.
Whitmier has lived on the street for 39 years with her husband and she’s had nieces and nephews at WHHS in the past. All the while Whitmire told them that in case of any school emergency, her home was a safe haven for them.
Even further, as students make Blair residents feel safe in their homes, during events like lockdown and fire drills, WHHS neighbors come out to watch over the students outside their homes and make sure all is well.
Safety is not the only benefit of living near WHHS, there’s also the blue and yellow school spirit that extends beyond the campus.
“I think there are a lot of advantages with living so close to a big school,” another Blair resident, Emma Comes said. “There’s also this sense of community when I get to see all the events and games outside, so I love it.”
During events like homecoming, as loud music projects out of South Field and golf carts and parades of students trek all over town, the whole neighborhood can feel the excitement buzzing.
The nature of this community can even sometimes be a competitive one as some people living on Blair Street are students at neighboring schools such as Withrow High School which lies merely 2 miles up the road.
“It’s good seeing Walnut students in the area walking around with all the Withrow students,” Foggie Fant, ‘25, a student at Withrow, said. “We’ll be having games against Walnut so it makes the competitions all in good fun.”