At New Trier, students neglect assistants that surround their everyday lives. They know they have one, but rarely take advantage of the weight they take off their shoulders. Now, they are the scourge of the hallways.

These menaces are lockers.

With a tight schedule and several materials for each class, why don’t most students use their lockers to lessen the load they carry around school? Several students cite location as the primary factor that influences their decision to store items in their lockers.

Junior Lily Rasof said she seldom uses her locker. “I don’t use my locker because it isn’t really near any of my classes,” she said. “I’d use it more often if it was in a better location.”

Sophomore Justin Sun faces a similar issue with storing his supplies. He prefers to plan ahead and leave unnecessary materials at home to limit what he brings to school.

“If I have a textbook for a class, then I don’t need it in class everyday,” Sun said. “I would keep it at home to use for homework.”

Other students, who have lockers in a more convenient location, store extra valuables daily. “My locker is right off the first floor rotunda, so it is very convenient to grab stuff after lunch,” said sophomore Matt Cacioppo. “I put in my coat and my binders that I’m not using. I definitely wouldn’t use my locker as frequently if it was located in a more inconvenient spot.”

Many students don’t even know where their lockers are because they were previously located in the T-Wing, which was demolished for the Winnetka Campus Facilities Project. Those advisories moved to the Mobile Classrooms in the back of the school and their lockers were relocated.

Staff members told students that their lockers were in the basement, but students don’t know where the lockers are.

Sophomore adviser, Andrew Docktor, said that many of his advisees don’t know where their locker is.
“Many of my students don’t even know what their locker combinations are,” Docktor said. “They check in on the first day, but later, they don’t recall where their locker is or what the combination is, so they don’t use it as much as they should.”

Docktor also said that his advisees rarely ever use their lockers, even when they are located in a convenient spot right next to their advisory room.
“They don’t use [their lockers] as much as they should. It’d be better if they used them so they’re not lugging around what they need for the entire day,” Docktor said.
While it is common for students to bring their backpacks with them everywhere they go at New Trier, previous high school students who went to other schools faced different expectations at school.

Docktor noted how going to his locker was almost expected of him. “My locker wasn’t in a convenient location, but I made it a point to go to it every couple of periods to get anything I needed,” Docktor said. “It would’ve been unusual to carry around everything like students do here.”

English teacher Jay Rosenberg also weighed in on the locker issue with his own experiences. He said that the extra time high schools used to give students in passing periods would allow them to visit their locker more often.
“At my high school, we had modules, which were fifteen-minute periods that could be combined to form a larger class, or they could split up classes by incorporating small breaks in between courses,” said Rosenberg. “You rarely had three classes in a row, so you could visit your locker and get whatever you needed.”

The rigor of courses that students take also seems to impact locker usage. “With so many courses packed into a tight schedule, and the path around the school you have to take, it’s more of an impediment to try and use your locker,” Rosenberg said.

Ultimately, it’s up to students to work out their schedule and see if using a locker is beneficial, or if it is more of an inconvenience.
“Carrying everything in your backpack is much easier than having to walk over to a locker,” Sun said. “I have easy access to anything I might need.”