WOODBURY – At Nonnewaug High School, backpacks are an appendage: these bags are filled with Chromebooks, Air Pods, Owala water bottles, and an endless supply of 3-ring binders. Despite having access to lockers, most students choose to carry everything with them from class to class, through crowded hallways, up and down stairs, for up to eight periods a day. It seems odd, doesn’t it? Why drag around all that weight, when there are perfectly fine personal storage spaces right there?

For NHS students, using a locker is not even in consideration.

“I haven’t used my locker at all this year,” Adelyn Cetrone, a freshman at Nonnewaug high school said. “In fact, I don’t even know where it is.” 

But why take away such a big part of the high school stereotype? Why is locker use disappearing? What are the downsides about lockers?  

Payton Brown, a sophomore at Nonnewaug High School shares some reasons why lockers have been put aside.

“It’s just inconvenient, we don’t have enough passing time,” Brown says. “Because the hallways are always so crowded, it can be hard to get to them.”

Another freshman at Nonnewaug High School, Madelyn Taylor, also adds to why lockers are not in use anymore.

”I think because of how big the school is and that the classes are all over, especially for ag kids, it is really far away,” Taylor said. “So I think it is more just to save time.”

As schools continue to modernize, some students still might be stuck in the now past.

“I wish we did use lockers,” Brown said. “So that way I would not have to carry as much stuff and I can keep stuff at school overnight.”

Some students also may argue that not using lockers can be a physical burden to them.

“My backpack is really heavy,” Taylor said. “So sometimes my back hurts from not using the lockers.”

As schools keep changing, students learn to adapt, and some say not using lockers is more beneficial while others disagree.

“I think there are just more benefits to just taking your backpack from class to class with you,” Taylor said.