Passed down through generations of the school’s elite athletes, successful business people, and skilled actors, the navy and tan metal lockers lining our hallways have held the belongings of the Upper School’s (US) most distinguished alumni for decades. These lockers have seen it all: 1990s overalls, 2000s concealer lips, and 2010s One Direction and Justin Bieber posters.
That is until now.
Today, most of the school’s lockers are filled with cobwebs and forgotten textbooks.
US Dean of Students Rory Morton has his own hypothesis for the decrease in locker use.
“Looking around, students’ backpacks usually have everything they need in them, whereas before, kids used to store the rest of their stuff in lockers, but they don’t do that anymore. I think it’s generational.”
Mr. Morton acknowledged that location is the primary locker-related problem for students.
“The ones who use their lockers would rather be in centrally-located areas. Some of the far-located areas of the school, if they don’t have a class or their advisor up there, that is probably the most consistent complaint. Kids don’t think they have enough time to get to their next class and comfortably get what they want.”
Mr. Morton says he takes this issue into account when assigning lockers.
“We try to rotate them through. We know we need to keep ninth graders by the Freshman Center because ninth graders move in that area. And then here on the first floor near the College Counseling Office and the Commons, we try to use that for the seniors.”
Despite his efforts, a portion of the school ignores their locker entirely, he said.
“I would probably say 60 to 70% of kids use their lockers in some capacity.”
A lack of locker usage worked out for the better, however, when 17 seniors offered to give up their lockers this school year due to the increased size of the freshman class with 137 students.
“We have far more students this year than we have lockers,” Mr. Morton said.
Merit Hodgson ’25 was one of the students who gave up her locker for a freshman. She said that it wasn’t much of an issue, however.
“I don’t have a locker this year, but it’s always been super out of the way.”
Since her locker served minimal purpose in the past, Merit said she has decided to try a new method: the shared locker. She plans to take over that of Max Laibson ’25.
“I only ever used it to put my coat in it. I’m probably going to use Max’s, instead.”
Max, a daily locker user, visits his locker to ease the weight of his heavy backpack while embarking on his daily commute to the school. Admittedly, his locker is in a convenient location, “right next to the College Counseling Office,” he said.
“I use my locker to store my books. It makes transit easier because I walk to school.”
Lucy Song ’26 also uses her locker to help with her walk to school, saving her from future textbook-induced back problems, she said.
“I usually keep my binders and my sports stuff in there,” she said. “I really like how my locker can store my items that I don’t need every night for homework, so that I don’t have to bring them back and forth to school.”
Erin Yu ’27 also regularly visits her locker, located in the first floor Science Wing. The ideal location plays a role in her locker habits, she said.
“If my locker were on the third floor, I’d probably just leave my stuff by the couch or something. I’m not walking all the way up there.”
Still, Erin acknowledges the locker-related challenges both she and others have encountered. In fact, her friends use Merit’s shared-locker method, she said.
“It’s honestly kind of difficult to open sometimes. It takes me a hot second to get it open. The rest of my friends use my locker, actually. They just think it’s too hard to get into their lockers.”
Matthias Paulson ’26, unlike Erin, has had his locker located on the third floor in previous years, an area he considers not easily accessible between classes.
“It’s in an inconvenient spot, and I don’t want to walk to it all the time.”
When it comes to this issue of opening his locker, Matthias’ locker code has also caused some previous trauma.
“I forget how to put the code in half the time. I’ve actually locked stuff in the locker and couldn’t get it until the end of the year.”
In place of a locker, many students store their belongings by the fishbowl, causing the infamous mountain of backpacks during the lunchtime rush. Emma Kirk ’26 is one of these students because going to her locker is inconvenient, she said. She has never even touched her locker, she said.
“No, I don’t use my locker. End of interview.”
