Last summer, St. Louis saw its highest ever average gas price at $4.88 per gallon. However, since then, the prices have been gradually declining. This is great news for the faculty and students who have to drive to and from school every day. 

For senior Arya Gijare, who has been driving to school since her sophomore year, the change in the gas costs has not only affected her, but her family as well. Because, like many, Gijare and her family had to make changes in their daily life to adapt to the prices back when they were inflated.

“We have two cars, so to cut down on the gas prices, we all should use one car for sometime, like, ‘let’s avoid using both cars’, because you spend more on gas,” Gijare said.

However, now that the prices are reducing, Gijare says that she gets to drive a lot more. 

She thinks that the decrease in prices is “Cool, because I get to drive my car to school and like everywhere. We don’t really have to use one car.” 

For Nathan Wilson, math and computer science teacher, the drive from home to school is a whopping 45-minute drive. Wilson says that he used to make adjustments to his spending in order to save money on gas needed for that long ride. 

“Just in terms of extra driving, I have to be a little more aware of that,” Wilson said. “Or sometimes the driving’s the necessity and because of the gas prices I might have to learn to cut things in other areas that aren’t driving.”

Even those living close to the school, like Spanish teacher Annie Perez, were impacted by the inflation of gas prices. 

“It was never an issue for me at all, and I didn’t have to fill up my tank very often at all,” Perez said. “Then they went up, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ Even a person living eight minutes away, I’m seeing a difference. I’m feeling a difference with how much it costs each time.”

It’s not uncommon to see gas prices rise during the summer, since the demand for gas generally increases at that time of year. However, the costs this year were especially high because the U.S government had blocked all gas imports from Russia, in March 2022, which has likely led to the increased prices due to lack of supply.

Although there is still no definite idea of what the future of gas prices will look like, The U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that gas bills may continue to decrease in 2022.

“It goes back and forth I think is what you can expect to happen, some back and forthness,” Wilson said. “If anybody thinks there’s like a single solution to it, they’re a little naive because I think it’s a complicated issue . . . So I think, in the near future it will probably continue to go down a little bit longer, but then I think it will probably eventually work its way back up again.”