Self-care industries have been popping up all over America as the radical notion of self-love has swept the nation. For sophomores London Mahaley and Aspen Burris, this idea is represented through their self-care locker, or Clocker, for short.

They created a little bubble of positivity and brightness amidst the fluorescent glow of an old, dirty hall in the East Wing. Their self-care locker includes antique tea cups, tea bags, lots of mint gum, lights, silverware, a calendar, some health items such as band-aids, tissues, and hand sanitizer, and “Always a candy of some sort,” said Burris.

After a pause, Mahaley added, “Gum. Too much money was spent on gum.”

They always have a thermos full of hot water from a teacher’s classroom, so that they can sip on their tea throughout the day. This whole locker radiates self-care. “It absolutely improves the quality of life. It gives us something to look forward to as well as a project to work on, a goal to work towards,” said Mahaley.

The whole locker project began in the classroom of English teacher Maggie Appel, who was unknowingly the inspiration for Clocker. Appel has built a little self-care station in her classroom, including many of the things Mahaley and Burris replicated in Clocker.

“It was Ms. Appel. She didn’t actually tell us to do it, but she had her little self-care poster [station] in class, and Aspen and I were like, ‘what if we just made it better, by putting it in our locker?’” Mahaley said.

“And so we did that,” added Burris.

“To me, self-care just means having your most basic needs met at all times. Students are always asking me for bandaids, and for a long time I just didn’t have bandaids, and then one day I said I just need to have a bunch,” Appel said.

From there, things like mints, gum, tissues, and snacks made their way to the self-care station.

“High schools are disgusting, so if you have something like an open wound, we can’t have that. Most of the people in this building are not adults yet, so they just might not always have access to certain things, so if it’s something you can do as a teacher, why not just provide that stuff?” Appel added.

A self-care station in a classroom is one thing, but Burris and Mahaley took it to the next level. This locker was no easy feat to pull off. Lockers in the East Wing are only one foot by five feet, and not the most agreeable to look at. “It took a lot of work, and commitment,” said Mahaley.

“A lot of money, as well, I don’t even want to go there,” said Bu

rris.

This locker is the perfect example of how self-care is possible in any environment. Even during school, when you may not have much control over your surroundings, by making the little things more pleasant, your everyday life has the chance to improve. There are certainly many ways to take care of yourself, even if that is not represented in a locker. Your self-care priorities do not even need to be tangible, it might just setting some time aside for yourself.

“Self-care means doing things that make you happy and taking a moment to prioritize yourself. Taking time for self-care is super important. High school can be so hard, and I know so many people who have multiple extracurriculars. Taking time for self-care is important to keep yourself from burning out,” Mahaley said, “It’s us making a space where we can take a moment and get what we need.”