By Elizabeth Pease ’17, Contributor
School lockers are a student’s “home away from home:” a quiet safe haven in the hectic life of a Country Day student. If you put a little bit of time into organizing and decorating your locker, you can feel refreshed and even inspired with each visit between classes. To create this oasis, you need to decide how to stock essentials, how to utilize the space as effectively as possible, and how to make your locker homey by decorating the inside and outside.
There are a few essentials you might want to include in your locker. Of course, your locker holds your books, backpack, and possibly athletic gear. In addition, you might want to procure Mr. Dunn’s bell schedule sheet. This sheet can save you on those days when you are feeling confused, overwhelmed, or too tired to know the constantly gyrating schedule—maybe some of the freshmen can relate. Some great practical items for lockers include tissues, a small trash bag, a stash of feminine products for the ladies, and a blanket. School gets extremely cold, especially in the winter, so having a blanket or a hoodie can be really useful. You also might want to keep some bottles of water, energy drinks, or protein bars in your locker. When students are too messy on the dining terrace and snack gets taken away, it saves your stomach to have a stash of your own snacks.
By necessity, Country Day lockers are huge in order to accommodate each student’s ton of big books. These books take up a lot of space, so to better utilize that space, you should consider using a locker shelf together with magazine holders. Locker shelves are usually around half the width and half the height of Country Day lockers. Magazine holders are usually sturdy boxes about three inches wide by ten inches tall. Rather than just throwing all of your books in, you can put each one in a magazine holder and label it for each subject, providing each textbook a home. The holders make it much easier to find your books for the next class, and the locker shelf doubles the organized vertical space for books while creating a perfect place for an athletic bag.
The walls of the lockers are gray and depressing, but they don’t have to be. By putting magnetic cork or white boards on the walls, you can pin personal pictures or write reminder notes. Magnetic letters and numbers are another awesome idea because your friends will love to play with them and leave you messages. Find a motto and spell it out in magnetic letters or print it out and pin it to your cork board to inspire yourself in between classes. To show school spirit, you can put Country Day magnets and blue and white ribbons on the walls and outside. To get psyched for the game, fellow team members can leave each other encouraging messages on the outside of a teammate’s locker. Last, but not least, seniors experience the rite of passage every spring when they get to display a poster publicizing their college selection.
By taking a little time to organize your locker, stock some essentials, and select fun photos and an inspirational motto, you can help relieve some stress and even energize yourself through your Country Day routine.
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