This year, Wilson’s enrollment reached 2,216 students, the largest in the last decade.

A greater increase in population was expected, but the current enrollment falls below the projected value due to students switching schools. 

“On the first day of school, when the enrollment was listed as 2,216 students many of those on the list didn’t walk into Wilson because they had transferred to other schools,” Data Coordinator Joseph Bellino said.. 

He estimates that the number of actual students this year is expected to level off around 2,100.

This compares to the student population for the 2019-2020 school year which was estimated to be 1,867 students. 

“[Since 2012] the incoming class has always been larger than the graduating class at Wilson. That’s not unique to Wilson,” Bellino said.. 

With the growing population, the pandemic makes Wilson’s unusually large student body particularly evident. Maintaining social distancing is a challenge as it is often crowded in the hallways. Counselors also struggled to keep classes below maximum capacity. 

“We thought we came up with a plan to ensure social distancing but we didn’t realize the amount of students that we were going to get,” Principal Gregory Bargeman said. 

Classes are increasing in size, exacerbating teacher’s ability to socially distance their students. Math teacher Alex Jacoby’s class size has increased to around 30 students per class. However, by Wilson’s standards, Jacoby says this is “a relatively small class.” 

Despite Wilson implementing measures of hallway traffic, “hallways are really hard to get around,” said sophomore Reese Sawyer. Sawyer’s classes tend to be around 30 students and adds that teachers look “exhausted.” 

To combat the overcrowding, the Wilson administration has tried to limit class sizes and instated two period lunches among other Covid-19 precautions.•