Two years ago, facing the reality that their school was about to be turned into a construction site, students at Issaquah High School realized they might need to change the way they go about their everyday school lives.

One of the “victims” was the parking lot — the number of parking spaces available to students has been greatly reduced during the construction period.

In an effort to be proactive, the school’s vice principal, Julia Bamba, and a group of 17 students formed a committee to explore their options for getting to school.

What they came up with — a program to encourage carpooling — has not only solved the short term problem of parking during the construction period, but has also fostered a positive change that will hopefully become a permanent part of the way students travel to school.

Bamba told The Reporter the initial committee spent a lot of time researching carpooling programs right across the state, and found that there was no precedence for high schools taking a step to reduce single occupancy trips.

“The group met with people at Microsoft, to talk about their carpooling and employee transit programs, as well as officials from King County Metro,” she said. “They also conducted a range of interviews with their fellow students, to gather their thoughts on carpooling, and bus and bike travel. One of the main things they found students would be open to was carpooling.”

Staff and students then created a program whereby student drivers who signed up to be part of a carpool would be guaranteed a parking space.

Carpoolers are also able to share the $55 annual parking fee.

Incentives are offered, including drawings for regular giveaways.

It was a popular idea. Almost too popular.

More than 500 students applied for the 157 reserved carpool spaces.

Though the program was not able to accommodate every student, it has seen an enormous increase in the number of students carpooling to school, helping to reduce local traffic congestion.

The carpooling program has also made students aware of the great power of their individual action in helping to reduce carbon emissions and create more intelligent transportation networks.

After the first year of the project, 21 percent of driving-aged students carpooled.

That number is now up to 27 percent, a matter of great pride for the school.

During their research into ways to solve the temporary parking dilemma, the school also struck up a deal with the St. Michael & All Angels Church Episcopal Church nearby.

Students may park in one of the 60 spaces in the lot on church property, in exchange for a certain number of hours of community service.

The benefits of the carpooling program continue to go beyond just the space-saving issue — students are excited to be a part of what they know is a socially responsible initiative.

“It’s fun to ride to school every morning with my best friend,” said student and carpooler Morgan Gierke.

“It’s nice to get priority parking and be rewarded for saving money on gas, and saving the environment,” said senior Kristin Maris.

And Issaquah High School appears to be blazing the trail when it comes to carpooling. During their research into carpooling programs, the student committee was not able to find any similar programs in Washington.

Two Californian high schools had incentive programs for riding a bike to school, but nothing devoted specifically to carpooling.

Not content with the program’s successes so far, Bamba said the students were now looking at ways to better connect passengers with drivers, such as a message board or online data base, to further reduce the number of vehicles heading into school each morning.