Over the summer, the high school received a grant to install new lockers into a few of the sports locker rooms on campus. The lockers helped enhance the locker rooms, and Principal Haywood Hand is now considering applying for a grant for new lockers, in all locker rooms and the hallways. However, a Hand thinks a precursor to the locker grant is a grant for energy conservation, which would include new installments such as energy efficient lights.

“If we get an energy conservation grant, then certainly that will help initiate all this other stuff,” said Hand. “It has to be a marriage between that and the [architecture and energy] study, because they don’t want to go in and do all these replacements and turn around in another year and pull them all out and reinstall them.”

Hand recognizes that Rockbridge County is one of the last of the county school districts to be considered for improvements, and lockers are one of many on the list of considerations.

“This is something the Board of Supervisors and the School Board have to come together and agree that there is a need for,” said Hand. “Based on my initial observations between the parties, I think they are aware of that because right now we are the school who hasn’t really had any new upgrades.”

New lockers would be a part of many potential upgrades throughout the school, including thoughts about expanding the back of the school to accommodate new classrooms and a renovation of the gym.

Some students, however, have never even opened a locker door. Sophomore Zac Brown feels that it is essential to have his books with him at all times. Because the lockers are so small, he keeps any extra materials and papers at home.

“I have too much stuff to fit in there,” said Brown. “and I need to keep my books on me at all times.”

Even if the school received the grant and new, bigger lockers were installed, Brown thinks that he would still continue to carry his books with him, leaving his locker empty. He also expressed concern that the current schedule with 4 minutes in between classes does not give him enough time to go to his locker and still be on time to his classes.

“Most of the time it’s not even convenient for me to go to my locker between most of my classes” said Brown. “If I did go, I would probably be late to the next class.”

Freshman Emily Hostetter, however, uses her locker daily. She finds that due to the weight of her books, it would be almost impossible for her to tote them around all day. However, she has to go to her locker during lunch because there is not enough time between classes. The five minutes that it takes her to switch binders when she goes at lunch makes it impossible for Hostetter to switch within the four-minute time frame between classes.

“The time between class really isn’t enough for me to make it to my locker and get new binders,” said Hostetter. “I switch out my binders at lunch, so it takes about five minutes out of lunch which is kind of inconvenient, but it’s too heavy for me to carry everything around all day.”

In a survey conducted among 85 students, an overwhelming majority of 98% said that they did not use their lockers. Because of this, new lockers do not appear to be a necessary addition for the majority of the students at RCHS.  For the people that use their lockers, new and improved ones would help them organize and let them keep more of their belongings in the lockers. People who now store their extra material at home would maybe consider keeping them in their lockers. However, most people would probably continue to organize the way that they do now. Bigger lockers would not improve the hassle of going to a locker or help make the switch of binders faster because students would still need more time to make switches.