It’s a warm, sunny day and you are running late going from first period to second. What staircase do you take? The answer is obvious: the staircase going up the side of the school, from the 200s up to the 400s, with the large windows that face the side teacher parking lot and Kingsbury Street. For purposes of this essay, we will call it Staircase A. Here you will no doubt get to feel the morning sunlight giving you a burst of energy. This staircase will also not be too crowded, and since it only spans three floors, there is less of a chance of you getting lost in the constant going up.
We all know Needham High School can get dreary, even when the weather outside is bright. In fact, this issue was one of the major problems that forced NHS to begin the year remotely. The administration may lie and say that ventilation was the issue, when in reality it was the unfixable lack of sunlight in the school. However, when inspectors saw Staircase A and its breathtaking sunlight, the school was deemed safe for students.
Staircase A also guarantees speed, as it rarely gets too crowded. Unlike the staircase leading up to the 900s, it is not too narrow and allows optimal space for walkers of all speeds. The best way to ruin your mood is getting stuck behind the traffic of slow walkers when you are in a rush, and Staircase A can promise you will not have to endure this problem.
Finally, we all know that feeling when you forget exactly which floor you are on and are not sure if you have to continue going up. An easy solution could be to use your brain just a little, but an even easier solution would be to take Staircase A. Without that one extra floor, your chances of getting mixed up decrease by 99% (research shows). Those sound like pretty good odds to me!
Well, if I have not made it clear enough, I’m not sure what you are thinking. Although I cannot promise that it won’t be too crowded anymore, Staircase A can still promise bright sunlight and a straightforward path to where you are going.
Now, for the second most important part of the high school building (after the staircases of course): the bathrooms! If you want a musty, dirty bathroom, go to the 900s. If you want a bathroom that will no doubt smell, go to the bathrooms in the 200s. Want one with unknown water on the floor which you will be forced to step in and get your shoes wet so that they awkwardly stick to floors for the next week? Go to the 100s. Now, what bathroom do we have left? The pristine 700s corner bathrooms. They are arguably the cleanest bathrooms in the school; their winding entrance allows for enough privacy, and they are decorated perfectly.
Did you know that the janitors actually clean these bathrooms three times more than all the others? No? Well, just ask them (or listen to my word). I for one know I would rather use a clean bathroom any day. These bathrooms are clean enough to sit down in and chill out for a bit. I bet you could even eat your lunch here. The 700s corner bathrooms almost feel too clean to be NHS bathrooms. But I assure you, in this case, the bathrooms are not too good to be true.
We all remember when they redid the bathrooms at Pollard and got rid of the doors. Suddenly you were washing your hands while practically being in the hallway. Talk about lack of privacy! Although the 700s corner bathrooms do not have doors, the maze to get in is almost better. They provide enough privacy with still enough airflow to make sure the bathrooms do not get stuffy. And the winding maze might even make you have enough fun to forget you are in school for just a moment.
Last, the 700s corner bathrooms are green! Green! Tell me a better color theme for a bathroom. That’s right, you can’t! According to expert decorator Renee Miller, “Green is an ideal paint color for the bathroom because it can be calming or invigorating, depending on the shade.” To me, the shade of green in Needham High’s best bathrooms is both calm and invigorating. When going to the bathroom to get a break from the school day, there is nothing better than a peaceful yet fascinating bathroom!
Some may say that in a school building, the most important rooms are the classrooms. But did you know that over a lifetime, the average person will spend around 2208 hours in a bathroom? Sounds to me like bathrooms are pretty important! And with the ten-minute passing time, students are spending more time in the stairways. I know, I know, maybe you still don’t agree with me on how perfect Staircase A and the 700s corner bathrooms are. But maybe we can at least agree on the fact that the staircases and bathrooms at NHS are crucial (the best of which are Staircase A and the 700s corner bathrooms).