Gavin Lin, Layout Staff

November 13, 2023

Tucked back against the wall unnoticed, hundreds of students walk by the Shattuck lockers every day. We’ve all wondered the same thing: does anyone actually use them? Fortunately, we now know the answer. A few beloved members of Class IV have recently been spotted putting the outdated lockers to use. 

School lockers represent an old chapter in the school’s history. Gone are the days of keeping the numerous textbooks, notebooks, and other school supplies stowed away in lockers and cubbies to retrieve throughout the day. Now, there simply isn’t a need to use lockers anymore, as the majority of notes and textbooks can be accessed online. However, it seems as if these new freshmen are determined to make an old trend flashy again. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an NPC as, “a character in a video game that does not represent and cannot be manipulated by a player.” When applying this definition to real life, it is not too far-fetched to say these new freshmen may just be the embodiment of NPCs. 

There are a couple of guidelines you can use to determine whether or not a person is an NPC. For example, if you’ve ever walked by the same person multiple times in the span of a few minutes and they said “hi” to you each time, you may be able to justify calling them an NPC. Another way you can identify an NPC is if they say the same voiceline over and over again. Say someone tells a joke once and nobody laughs, an NPC might say the same sentence three or four times over again until someone either laughs or asks them to stop. It’s not their fault, they just haven’t unlocked complex dialogue yet.

Whether you like these freshmen or not, it is nice to see the lockers being put to use. Is it possible the freshmen using them are unaware of Nobles’ norms?? Perchance. However, without them, our community would not be the same. Who knows? Maybe someday everyone will go back to having a locker. I know if I had one, I’d use it to store the depression I get from taking four tests every week. You could also use a locker to store some snacks. With the inflated prices at the school store and Cafe 2000, buying bulk snacks to keep in a locker would be the perfect way to save money. 

Overall, it’s nice to see the Shattuck lockers being used again. Sure, they are being used by a bunch of NPCs, but at least they are bringing back memories of the good old times that only the oldest faculty members would know. 

(Photo Credit: Zack Mittelstadt)