Students with no lockers deal with the weight of their backpacks as they wait for a locker assignment
Every winter season brings more than just finals and cold weather. Assistant Principal Secretary Crystal Coppel also begins to redistribute locker assignments — one of the few times that seniors receive last priority.In November, Coppel sent teacher assistants around campus to find unlocked and unused lockers. Once they returned with the locations of about 250 lockers of the total 1800 on campus, she began the lengthy reassignment process.
"I cross reference the information, then start pulling out a ton of kids over and over, asking them ‘Are you still using your locker? If not, can we assign it to someone else,’" Coppel said.
Relinquished lockers are assigned according to the waiting list started at Running of the Bulls (ROTB). Seeing that Coppel typically runs out of locker assignments, only freshmen, sophomores and juniors receive locker assignments at the event. Since the majority of seniors either have fewer classes and school supplies or own cars, they are required to join the waiting list, along with straggler students who arrived late at ROTB.
Seniors who do not fit this majority are often out of luck. Senior Neena Kashyap faces the downside of senior status with her six classes and no locker.
"I have a lot of stuff, I don’t drive," Kashyap said. "I have commandeered half of [sophomore] Ryan Chui’s locker…this is annoying — I have to carry everything."
Like Kashyap, many students without lockers resort to sharing a locker with a friend, while others simply deal with the weight.
Coppel offers reassuring information to such students.
"Everybody off the waiting list every year does get a locker," Coppel said. "It just sometimes takes a few months to get that done."
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