For the 2024-25 school year, Juniors and Seniors are situated in the lockers outside of the English and history pods, while the underclassmen are using the combined lockers in Upper School South, which is the opposite of previous years.
Freshmen and Sophomores will share the same locker space this year in Upper School South. Upper School History teacher Sidrah Khan says she believes this change would help the younger grades to build a stronger sense of community.
“I think that’s kind of a cool way for ninth graders to get exposure to other students and to meet the tenth graders,” said Khan.
Students with lockers in Upper School North use the English and history pods to hang out since there is no space for socializing in the locker rooms.
The pods were intended to be quiet working spaces for students and teachers, but Khan says the underclassmen used it primarily for socializing purposes in the past.
“I just don’t think [the history pod] was used for its actual purpose, and so this bigger [and more open] space will allow kids to [socialize] without disturbing classes and faculties,” said Khan.
The primary goal for such a change is to accommodate the growing numbers of students in ninth and tenth grade.
“There are a greater number of lockers in there than there are in the English and History pod locker rooms,” said senior Maxwell Johnson. “It makes sense in terms of numbers because the freshmen and sophomore classes are larger than the junior and senior classes of the school year.”
Senior Adair Moses says she thinks another side effect of the locker change is a more tightly-knit community with an increase in school spirit.
“They’re trying to build a really strong community and school spirit with the freshmen this year,” said Moses. “I think having them in that really central location and already with older kids would help them into the Greenhill Upper School community.”
However, some of the seniors have different thoughts about this sudden change.
“I was disappointed because I was very excited to share the lockers with the juniors,” said senior Chloe Nguyen.
The couches in the combined locker in Upper School South were also taken away to mitigate the congestion in and around the locker room. Senior Bette Tomecko says she doesn’t dislike the change entirely.
“I was never someone who hung out in there, so I don’t see a problem with it,” said Tomecko. “People would hang out in there so much, particularly seniors last year, that they felt left out if they weren’t in there.”
The sudden locker change received mix reviews from the upperclassmen. Johnson says that the primary concern of some upperclassmen is that they don’t have enough space inside for socializing.
“I just think there’s not enough space for students to hang out,” said Johnson. “If the school is trying to promote people being social and off their phones, we need to have space for that, where you won’t be interrupting anybody else’s study.”
