One Final Legacy

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Summer cleaning is in full swing here in Armfield. Lockers take the longest to clean. Each summer, they are individually washed and sanitized, so they are ready for their new occupant in August. As I'm sure you can imagine, when they are cleaned out in the spring, you can find some very interesting items. For example, this year we found all varieties of food and drink, stuffed tests and quizzes, handouts needing signatures, winter coats and boots, old lunch boxes, family pictures - the works.

I remember one year when I was teaching 4th grade, I had a student who left eight coats in his locker over the year, and didn't realize it until the end of the year. He wasn't sure how he would carry all of them home, as they were too puffy for a trash bag. So together, we came up with the solution. He put one coat on, then another, then another....until he walked out to carpool looking like the Goodyear Man.

This morning, I walked into the building and heard that despite our best efforts this spring, something had made it through to the summer cleaning. Apparently, an inventive 8th grader chose to leave a final marker of their time here at Canterbury. This student found a way to affix a magnet to a donut and then place it underneath the top shelf of the locker. I'm not sure if they hoped it would fossilize over time so they could come back during their ten year reunion and claim it (an odd time capsule, I'd say) or if they merely placed it there during the year in order to keep it safe from notorious middle school moochers and forgot about it.

Regardless, it is one of the most creative and interesting remnants of a locker I've ever encountered. Intentional or not, I tip my hat to this student for laying claim to that title. What's the most interesting/disgusting/funny thing you've ever seen/heard of being left in a locker?