The majority of lockers at Central have become a place where dust collects and metal rusts. With the Covid-19 Pandemic, lockers were no longer assigned to every student, instead only being given to students who requested one.  

In 2021-22, 260 students requested them; 2022-23, 29; in 2023-24, 439: and 2024-25, 332 students requested one. 

Locker culture at Central is dead.  

Senior Holland Robison came to Central after graduating from Our Lady of Lords. She was excited to be able to decorate her locker “like how they do in the movies,” she said.  

“I dreamed of hanging a mini chandelier in my locker,” Robison said.  

But, in disbelief she was never handed a locker. Instead, she had to go through the process of writing a request form.  

As an underclassman, senior Lily Howard was taught how to check out a locker from upperclassmen, which she did because she wanted a place to put her sports bags.  

“I didn’t want to have to carry them around. I never stopped for books,” Howard said. 

Cars function as lockers for some students. Senior Hugh Lowe-Weyand said, “It is way easier for me to just carry my bag around, and when I have sports stuff, I typically just try to keep it in my car, so I don’t have to request a locker.” 

When teacher and 2015 graduate Jared Givens was a student at Central, there were nine class periods during the day and using a locker was a standard among students. Everyone was assigned a locker and many students shared.  

Lockers became a health hazard, Givens said.  

“People always left behind food and nasty stuff. I left a protein shake in there over winter break and it got gross,” he said.  

He said it stunk up the halls. But even then, there were people who never used their lockers. 

 “Part of why I think they stopped doing it is because if you want one, you can just get one…Now you don’t need to carry around nine classes of books each day and you only have to bring half of your stuff to school,” Givens said.