Recently Grant Community High School has updated the locker rooms. The change was a clearly needed one. They installed air conditioning, repainted the female rooms, and installed new lockers in the male room. Previously, students described the locker room as cramped, hot, and in some ways damaged. While this may seem like just a more enjoyable time in the locker rooms for the five minutes we have, it is really so much more.

Hot locker rooms without air conditioning are affecting student focus. After working out a lot, on fitness days especially, students will feel extreme levels of fatigue. That can seriously impact students’ focus, which decreases productivity in the class following PE. And not having enough space can result negatively. Being cramped and surrounded by body heat will do the same.

In high school, image is a major focus for many students. Students worry whether their hair looks good after running, whether curls have fallen out, or whether their previously straightened hair has been ruined by rain or sweat. Beyond that, the fear of the smell of body odor can be enough to affect someone’s confidence in the classroom, ultimately affecting their productivity in the classroom.

After sweating and not having air conditioning, thin clothes can show sweat marks. Going back to how you present yourself no one wants to be seen as a sweaty, smelly, hot, mess. This is a fear that can be avoided. School work and extra curriculars are enough to handle not including self-representation.

In addition to that, how does the other side feel about it? Instead of only taking a look at the students who return to class with post-workout sweat, how do students that sit next to these students feel? No one wants to be rude, but doing group work with someone who is drenched in sweat is not exactly the most comfortable experience.  Most people will have to deal with the smell and the warm breath of the panting exhausted students against your own face as unsettling. It’s bad on any side you look at; air conditioning was a necessity. Thankfully we realized how needed this was, students’ voices were heard, and Grant Community High School delivered.

The actual locker update was needed as well. Students may have increased levels of anxiety by little things, such as scratches on lockers, locker doors getting stuck, and many little things that little by little increase anxiety. This extremely necessary change was crucial for student social-emotional health.

The locker room update was a change that was extremely needed to overall help student progress, productivity, reduce stress levels, feeling good physically and mentally, and many more little things that seem like they don’t matter but in the grand scheme do. This little change is something that impacts our well being. So thank you to everyone who made this possible.