It’s that time of year when several activities arise: Halloween costumes, trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving, Harvest, haunted houses–but throughout these activities one remains constant: school, and with school, backpacks. 

Sophomore Emily Headley says she does not use her locker and instead hauls her items around with her seven periods each day due to convenience. 

“I don’t use my locker because it is far away from everything.” Said Headley. “Mine is next to the old senior loft and it’s a dead hallway so it is pretty pointless. I would say that I see my back hurting more than it used to but I wouldn’t say it is a big deal.” 

But according to Art of Life Chiropractic it is a big deal. 

“The study stated that a significant amount of back pain may be due to changes in lumbar disc height or curvature resulting from the backpack weight.” according to Art of Life Chiropractic. “These changes were noted in the lumbar spine MRI scans of the participants while standing with backpack loads at 10, 20 and 30 percent of their body weight. Changes in the lumbar disc height can be caused by wear and tear, which can lead to degenerative disc disease.”

They line our hallways and remain, for the most part, unused. Lockers were provided as a means to store students items but pose one problem: time management. With five minute transitions, some students do not have the time to visit their lockers and others struggle with the distance between their locker and their classrooms. 

Freshman Sydney Zuckschwerdt has finished her first quarter of highschool without using her locker, which were enforced during her previous year at Scribner Middle School. 

“If I had more time I would go to my locker.” Said Zuckschwerdt. “I just don’t have time because it’s on the third floor and most of my classes are on the first and second.”