Using your locker can help you stay organized it keeps your stress level down because you won’t have to carry around all your textbooks. But that can be hard at Manhattan High because for many students their locker could be across the school.

Students seem to struggle with carrying around books and supplies, but lack the knowledge of remembering where their locker is because their locker is in an inconvenient place.

”I never got told where my locker was so I never bothered with it,”  senior Mady Asebedo said. Lockers took a lot of time and money to put in and most do not even get used. Most students don’t bother with a locker and just suffer through the back pains of carrying everything.

“I never used my locker last year and will probably not use it this year either,” junior Alex Newell said. A locker by South Gym could be assigned to someone who never goes to South Gym or even near it. What is the point of a locker if students can’t use it?

Students can’t do things such as go to the bathroom, get a drink and run across the school to use their locker then back and be on time to class.

“I have never seen a student ask to go to their locker, so no they probably don’t get used often,” junior Krystina Tull said.  Rarely students classes are not near their locker, and teachers won’t let students leave to get things they need out of their locker but have suggested students use them.

“Students know that most teachers would rather have all their students in class and not have to repeat themselves to catch up a student that left,” Tull said. The school put in thousands of dollars towards making more lockers in the school as the school population grew. The USD 383 school system has always struggled with money and MHS basically flushed out thousands of dollars towards something that has not been used in years. Plus when used, it can’t be used properly because of time and location.

Manhattan High does not require that students use their locker but always suggest it at the beginning of the year during grade level meetings, then the lockers are never brought up again, unless suggested by a teacher. The schedule change last year included advisory, a class for students to have a time during the week to work on assignments and go ask teachers for help during school hours. A student’s locker should be near that advisory classroom so that they have access to their locker at least once a week. Why would you only need your locker once a week? On block days you do not need supplies for your fourth through seventh hour classes, so you can put those supplies in your locker. Then in the morning of the next day switch your supplies before the first bell.

Next year, lockers should be planned out better because advisory classes does not change for three years of a student’s high school time. Lockers can be kept the same while a student is in school and they can have access to it and not forget they even have one. Once a month during the time we have before move time should be focused on a locker clean out. This way students can stay organized and can use their locker throughout the year. Lockers where such a hassle to put in they shouldn’t be ignored forever. They will always in the building and have to be a option for students who want to use them.