Latin students face a variety of challenges on their way to school, whether it’s traffic-jammed car rides, crowded buses, or freezing-cold walks. Students’ commutes differ greatly based on several elements of their trip, including weather and location.

Hailing from 45 zip codes and 15 suburbs in the Chicagoland metropolitan area, Latin is a hub of students from dozens of neighborhoods.

Senior Will Behan lives in River North and gets driven by his parents to school every morning. If Will has his first class at 8 a.m., he leaves 30 minutes before and arrives at Latin around 7:45 a.m. “I try and leave early just to make sure nothing goes wrong,” he said.

Will has made it more than halfway through his senior year without ever being late for his first class of the day. However, he has had close calls in the past, such as when he was stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Most mornings, though, his commute runs smoothly.

According to Inrix’s Global Traffic Scoreboard, Chicago’s traffic was recently rated the fifth most congested worldwide and the second most congested city in the U.S. As traffic is a problem many Chicagoans endure, Will appreciates his proximity to Latin. “I think I have a pretty good gig,” Will said. “I live pretty close, and I just get dropped off right in front of school.”

However, not all Latin students are a 15-minute car ride from school. Senior Mel Butler makes up one of the CTA’s many daily riders. She commutes from the South Shore neighborhood and leaves her house much earlier than Will—at 6:45 a.m.

“I take either the 26 or the 6 [bus], which gets me downtown, and then after that, I transfer over to the Brown Line,” Mel said.

With her long commute time, Mel noted the extensive role the weather can play in her trip. She described the time between fall and winter as especially tricky. “I freeze my butt off, especially when it's not even snowing but the cold air is whipping around,” she said.

Mel doesn’t let the long commute in the cold stop her involvement in extracurricular and nonschool-related activities.

“I just have so many passions that I want to do, and especially this year. I'm just doing whatever makes me happy,” Mel said. “But it does put a strain on my ability to get homework done.”

While junior Clark Scroggins typically doesn’t rely on a train conductor, a bus driver, or his parents to get to school in the morning, he braves the cold by walking. Depending on his mood, he might opt to take a Lime scooter instead—a choice he has once paid the price for.

“The bus wasn't going to arrive for another 30 minutes. So I said, I'll try my luck on a Lime scooter, and it was dark out, and it was raining like crazy, and I took a turn full speed just outside of the Hancock building, and I just [hit the pavement],” Clark said. As a result of the incident, he prefers walking to school, despite the discomfort of the Windy City’s chill.

“When it turns winter, I [swim for Latin], so it means that my nights get longer, and that means that walking home gets colder and worse, and sometimes my hair freezes,” Clark said.

Despite their challenges, Will, Mel, and Clark all persevere to arrive at Latin determined and engaged for the day of learning ahead.

Mel said, “In a perfect world, I would be a five-minute walk from school, but that’s not reality.”