Sophie Driscoll ’19

Over the summer, the boys’ locker room was refurbished with new lockers and showers. The renovation occurred after years of complaints from students and faculty that the old facilities were in poor condition.
Health and Physical Education Department Head Christine Wanner is new to Staples High School this year and therefore did not see the boys’ locker room before it was renovated. However, she reported that physical education teachers have shared positive feedback about the newly-renovated boys’ locker room with her.
Physical education teacher Jennifer Mitteness, for example, praised the renovated space. “I took all my freshman classes on a tour, and all the boys went in there and said that they were absolutely gorgeous, so it seems like kids appreciate them,” Mitteness said.
Wanner also expressed appreciation for the now-pristine space. “I’ve heard that it was not a very welcoming environment in terms of the lockers being usable and the space just being a clean one that people would want to be in,” she said. “From what I understand, [it’s] a much better-presented area than it used to be.”
According to Ry Cohen ’19, the renovation has greatly improved students’ locker-room experience. “The locker room is much cleaner, and it’s easier to find your things,” Cohen said. “It also smells a lot better than last year.”
While many students reported that the boys’ locker room was in poor condition prior to the renovation, not all students felt that such an extreme renovation was necessary.
Martin Menz ’19 acknowledged that the old locker rooms were outdated, but he questioned the necessity of the renovation. “I’m not sure if a full renovation was necessary, because I think that besides the broken lockers, the locker room last year served its purpose,” he said.
There are noticeable differences between the boys’ locker room and the girls’ locker room. “Anything brand new is going to have the brand new look. The girls’ locker room isn’t brand new,” Wanner said.
One extreme difference between the two locker rooms is the way the lockers lock. Neither the previous boys’ lockers nor the newly-installed boys’ lockers have built-in locks, while the girls’ lockers do have embedded locks.
“[The built-in locks is] one thing that a lot of students wished that they got,” Mitteness said. “But for some reason they didn’t get those.”
The dissatisfaction with the locks stems from the fact that the boys are required to purchase a $5 padlock, which they may return at the end of their junior year for a $3 refund. Some students see this as a challenge. “I don’t think it’s that fair because nobody uses them, and they should just have automatic locks on the lockers,” Cohen said.
However, there are certain benefits to using padlocks rather than embedded locks, according to Wanner. “If there’s [an embedded] lock that’s not working properly, you can’t just change it out,” she said. “If it’s a padlock that’s not working, you can just change out the padlock. That’s one advantage, if you will, to having the padlocks.”
Wanner expressed her excitement for boys to enjoy their locker room. “My hope is that the locker room is going to be used frequently and used well by the students here because now they have this great room to be able to use and store their things,” she said. “I hope it gets really well-used and well taken care of.”