Desperate Times Call for Desperate Lockers

Rushing towards the locker room, panting while you sign language the teacher through the door a plea to let you in while a class is going on. Clustering outside of closed locker rooms in the morning, creating a pleasant fire hazard to start the day. The percentage of students who actually use our lockers are nodding along to these everyday BSGE situations.

One would think lockers are highly sought after, considering the limited amount and the growing student population; however, a surprising number of students don’t actually use their lockers.

“I remember how I used to use my locker at the beginning of seventh grade. But I always forgot something, so I just leave everything at home now,” says Sofia Caraballo ‘16. Sofia is one among the many who choose not to use lockers because homework or study material may be left there by mistake, but the inconvenience of having lockers inside classrooms is as an issue as well.  While students do get five minutes to go to their lockers between class periods, class often begins already if they arrive too late, or the previous class is still minutes away from ending if they arrive too early. Teachers who teach in classrooms with lockers are often disturbed by students who run in for their books right before the teacher starts class. “You end up not having enough time, because you can only stay in there for two minutes before the teacher tells you to leave,” says Brianna Carty ‘16.

Sometimes, whether or not there’s enough time to dump and run depends on the teacher. Students should be thankful if they get a locker room with a lenient teacher who allows them in at irregular times. Nonetheless, no teachers like having their class interrupted. “Teachers are really picky with when you can come in because lockers are in their rooms,” explains Natalia Belchikov ‘16.

Due to the construction of the building, BSGE’s hallways are too narrow for lockers, where they often are in larger schools. But in lieu of lockers in classrooms, what do students think about having a few lockers in the bathrooms? “Our stuff would be saturated in stench,” says Beatrice McAviney ‘16, who disagrees with the idea. Although there is a factor of disgust in storing items in the school bathrooms, there aren’t any teachers holding lectures in there, so students would be able to grab things whenever they want to. Some students appreciate the novelty of the idea, like Mahaut Brooks ‘16 who says, “It’s totally fine because if you arrive to school late, you can still go to your locker since there are no teachers to yell at you. Plus, you can pee while you get stuff out of your locker.”