Written by: Ally L
The Mystery Door
The team had always known that there was another door in the back of our closet in the room. At one point, it was hidden behind piles of heavy boxes and bulky supplies. We’d never been able to open it, though, as it was locked. Whatever was behind the door wasn’t on the floor plans, so we thought it was just a wall behind the door. It was still curious, though.
During Open Room on July 28th, we finally managed to get the door open. We got everything out of the way and found a custodian to come in and unlock the door. There was a tiny closet through the back of our closet!
It was dark: the little room had lights, but they were broken. The new closet was filled to the brim with old and dusty things of every variety. At first glance, some of the strangest things were the stack of doors, an old locker filled with paint, and many drills.
EPHS Art Department
When we found the new closet, we knew we had to let the art teachers know. We share our classroom with the EPHS Art Department, who teach a wide variety of art classes as well as run EPHS Art Club in this room. The little room had paints in it, so it must have belonged to or been shared with Art at some point! We set up a meeting with them to figure it out.
In our meeting on Monday the 11th, Art decided that we could use the new closet to store our supplies. Thank you EPHS Art Department! At this meeting, we also discussed ways to make this classroom work better for everyone, as both Art and Robotics struggle to store everything we need in this room. The solution we decided on was to move things around to try to maximize the space inside the room.
During the meeting, we also found out that the grey carpeted wall that we hang posters on is a fire hazard! The carpet and paper are flammable, which makes it unsafe for a workspace where Art uses torches and we use power tools. So, we needed to also move our carts and supplies away from the carpeted wall, and we’ll see if the EPHS Maintenance Staff can remove the carpet from the wall.
Reorganizing the Room
We started reorganizing the classroom right away. During our meeting, the art teachers helped us move our carts across the room. Together, we cleared everything out of the new closet. Some fun items found were a welding machine with a welding helmet as well as a partially assembled printing machine! Thank you again to the EPHS Art Department, as we couldn’t have done it without them.
Since the meeting was on Monday the 11th, we had an Open Room right afterwards! One of the first things we did in room was move things from the room closet through the door to the new closet. We moved seasonal event supplies, like our canopy tents, coolers, and robots and rotini boxes, into the new closet, because we won’t need to access them as often. The awards and posters that had been on the carpeted wall were moved to the wall of the closet to decorate it. With the chance to fully clean out the closet, which we aren’t often able to do, we found some fun things.
Two interesting boxes were one filled with leaking sandbags and one filled with old vases. We also found some things we needed to get rid of, like expired sugar packets. We find them every time we try to clean the closet!
Many names have been suggested for this new closet to prevent confusion with The Closet. Narnia was proposed because it was a strange, mysterious place through the back of a storage area. Baby Closet, however, is also an adorable suggestion, with many similar ideas like Mini Closet or Closet Closet. We’ll see what name sticks for this new space!
Back to School
The next Open Room was Monday, the 18th. It was potentially the last open room before school starts, due to the State Fair falling on a Monday, and with the Labor Day holiday. We needed to get everything cleaned up before this classroom started being used for classes! Specifically, we wanted to move as much as possible into the Jungle (the back section of our room we mainly use for storage) so that it could be safe and out of the way of students. Everything that had been in the way got neatly organized and placed in the back.
In addition, the school year beginning means more people will start joining the team! The majority of the team’s recruitment happens around the first month of school, as students decide what clubs they want to join. So, we wanted to make the Jungle cleaner and more accessible for the new members joining the team. To do so, we cleaned and swept all of the counters and organized the cabinets and shelves. Hopefully, it’ll help make the Jungle less messy and overwhelming to anyone new.
During our reorganization, we moved the T-shirt cannons up on top of the cabinets, as they are mostly a seasonal project and take up a lot of countertop space. If you are looking for them for an event or project, that is their new home! In addition, we cleaned out the cabinet with our fire extinguisher so that emergency supplies are easier to access. If you don’t know where our emergency and first aid supplies are, just ask in room!
This Open Room wasn’t all boring cleanup. We had extra time, so we made slime at the end of Open Room. It turned out really nicely and a lovely shade of purple!
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