Opening the restroom door, away from the noise of the packed schedule of a busy Stevenson student, is like entering a haven of tranquility. A bathroom is a place where a student can quickly rewind, catch their breath and of course, take care of basic business. So the bathroom is arguably the most crucial part of the high school experience. But what makes a bathroom a good bathroom? Which bathroom is the favorite of them all? The least favorite? We polled students at Stevenson to find out.
We gave students a list of bathroom locations on campus, including the following:
Rosen (upstairs), Rosen (downstairs), locker rooms, chapel, cafeteria, Learning Commons, Douglas Hall, Keck Auditorium, dining hall, Talbott, art room, dance room, science building, and the upper field.
The top-rated bathroom was the cafeteria (51.7%) while the lowest-rated bathroom was the locker rooms (43.5%).
What bathroom feature matters most? Students responded with “a bidet,” “a TV,” “plants & Febreze,” “good soap,” and even “modernism.” One student believes that there should be “at least three urinals and one sitting one that sprays water.”
One student says, “Both the bathrooms in the cafeteria and Keck are just nice, so I like them. The bathrooms in the locker room and dance studio give creepy and not-good vibes, so I dislike them.”
According to one student, “The cafeteria has a really nice bathroom while the science room feels like a weak public restroom.” Another student claims, “Cafeteria bathrooms are always clean and smell nice; Learning Commons and locker room feel like a dungeon.” It’s not surprising that the cafeteria’s bathroom is the students’ favorite: the warm atmosphere created by the dim golden lighting welcomes anyone and everyone, and it’s perfect for mirror selfies too. The tiles, sink, and toilet are always so wonderfully maintained, not to mention the seriously glorious smell. This restroom is also handicap-accessible, but as one student says, “If you aren’t handicapped, then you have a giant bathroom all to yourself!”
Students appreciated the dining hall bathroom by writing responses such as “...impeccable water pressure, and large amounts of counter space, it was a better hair washing experience than an Atwood shower.” On the contrary, there was a lot of impassioned criticism of the locker rooms: “My least favorite bathroom is the boys locker bathroom by the guest locker room because it is small, kind of nasty, and ugly.”
After receiving these results, we decided to individually interview students to gauge what exactly makes a “good” bathroom “great” and what makes a “bad” bathroom so terrible.
Mahealani Carrasco, a 9th-grade day student at Stevenson, would be willing to use a restroom “as long as [it] is clean and getting regular maintenance and… not dirty. I think I [usually] use the ones in the cafeteria or in Lower Rosen. Actually, I use the cafeteria bathrooms the most because they’re very nice.”
Will Simonds, a sophomore boarder at Stevenson, thinks that an ideal bathroom “has to not have pee or toilet paper on the ground. It has to be well maintained and clean. Good lighting; I don’t like dark bathrooms, cold bathrooms really bother me. I mean, there’s some bathrooms here that are just gross — I think we all know what a gross bathroom is.” When asked what if he has any bathrooms he dislikes, Will said, “Yes, I believe there is one…locker room bathroom. That’s a really bad bathroom. Bad, bad bathroom.”
The state of school bathrooms proves to be a passionate topic among the Stevenson community. The favorite bathroom of the school is the cafeteria location because it “feels safe,” is “modern” and “clean,” while the least favorite is the locker room as it is “dirty,” “scary,” and “offensive.” A nice and clean bathroom can boost the reputation of a school and dramatically improve student life.
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