In late October, Upper Schoolers found a howler in their inbox from Ms. Riverain. Subject line: “This is unacceptable!” Along with an image, she included a note: “This is disgraceful and disrespectful. Please do not let it happen again. You are (or should be) better than this.” Point taken: The hallways in the US are messy and the student center overflows with lost or forgotten items. And she’s totally right: It’s not the cleaning crew’s job or Ms. Riverain’s job to deal with it and we shouldn’t have left it there.
This picture shows just how much stuff the students have! Clearly it’s a problem, so let’s address it. As Ms. Riverain said, “This is disgraceful and disrespectful. Please do not let it happen again. You are (or should be) better than this.” The blame is definitely on us for this mess. But still, although we did create it, it’s not exactly the students’ fault. Just like at home, stuff goes where it belongs: drawers, closets, shelves, bins. But at GA, in the Upper School at least, where exactly is that? Let’s talk about solutions.
A storage solution is exactly what we need to tidy up the benches and hallways. One idea that could clear up the hallways is shelves. Shelves above the benches in the hallway could hold our stuff and allow for more hallway space. On the other hand, with all of the belongings of each grade, the shelves might not hold the stuff without it slipping off and hurting someone.
Another space-saving hack could be cubbies. Cubbies could be installed, leaving the hallways much more organized and preventing losing or mixing up our belongings. Then again, with all of the constant movement between classes, we might want to just throw our bags on the benches instead of trying to make it fit in all of the busy cubbies.
Another idea: hooks! They could hold jackets, bags, or anything else you need to put down. They’re quick, easy, and leave much more room on the benches and in the hallway for people to sit or hang out. But of course, the hooks might be too low, and the stuff hanging on them could hit our heads. Also: The hooks might not be strong enough for our huge backpacks.
Whether these are workable solutions or not, I do think the students are taking the hit for a larger problem, which is the lack of any student storage. After interviewing Ms. Riverain herself, I learned that in the past, students had locker rooms to store their stuff—and they were completely unused! “For years, students didn’t use it,” she recalled. “ They just hung out there, and all the kids schlepped all their stuff with them all the time.” So storage was not put to good use before. Do you think it would be used more now? Maybe the hooks, cubbies, and shelves would be better than a locker room? Tell us what you think!
