H-F stands out from other high schools in many ways. This school offers a whopping 27 AP classes, was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a Best High School in America and boasts the top boy’s basketball team in the state. However, what is truly astonishing about H-F is the absolutely abandoned lockers that line the halls.
To most, lockers are a staple of the American high school experience. Students decorate the interiors with magnets and stickers and friends cover each other’s lockers in wrapping paper and bows on birthdays. At H-F, this locker culture is obsolete. Many seniors claim they have never once, in their four years of high school, seen a person use their locker, and certain teachers eagerly describe a locker user outside of their classroom as if they were describing a Bigfoot or Yeti sighting.
Every so often, though, a student does decide to use their locker. Two such students, sophomore Alaya Carnes and junior Saaungkh Tarrer, find value in what the rest of H-F just sees as hallway decoration.
“I play a lot of sports, I played field hockey in the spring and I had literally nowhere to put my stuff,” said Carnes. “When I just don’t feel like carrying heavy stuff, or feel like having the extra load, I’ll stop by my locker and put my stuff in there.” Carnes also likes to keep books, extra coats, extra jackets and her basketball bag in her locker.
Tarrer similarly uses his locker for extracurricular equipment.
“I take VTV, so I have to carry a bunch of stuff around like cameras, tripods, lenses,” Tarrer explained. “It’s easier for me to just leave it all in my locker.”
However, both Tarrer and Carnes agree that there is a flaw with H-F lockers. That flaw, of course, is that H-F has a really big campus.
“The only time I would get [not using your locker] is if it’s in a very inconvenient space. So if it’s in, I don’t know, a corner of third floor North, and you don’t even really touch third floor North like that, I honestly get it,” Carnes conceded. “But if it’s in a convenient space, I feel like people should.”
The easy accessibility for both Tarrer and Carnes to their lockers is definitely a contributing factor as to why they use them, as the lockers can be found in the respective buildings the students find themselves in the most.
Tarrer’s locker is located in E-building near the VTV studio. “During second period I have VTV, so I just drop the stuff off during passing period and then at the end of the day, I can pick it all up before biking home.”
Carnes’ experiences the same convenience in A-building. “My freshman year specifically, because I had Creative Writing then English, so it was like a double A period and I would just, you know, drop by my locker. It’s right there.”
Carnes, of course, understands how abnormal using her locker looks to others. However, she believes that more students should consider using their lockers. If people play sports or have many extracurriculars, maybe they should consider seeing the world from her and Tarrer’s point of view.