Following the bond approval in the 2025 election, South’s outdated locker rooms could soon see major improvements. While due to the priority of other bond projects, neither an architect nor an exact design has yet to be selected, Andrew Rishmawi, South’s athletic director, said the goal is to update the space to better serve both student-athletes and visitors.
“We’re still looking at designs of what we want to do with the space,” Rishmawi said. “But we want to modernize it and bring it into this century.”
One of the biggest issues with the current locker rooms is the lack of usable storage space for many athletes. While the lockers work for some sports, they fall short for others, particularly according to Mackenzie Waterson ’27, softball.
“Between our helmets, cleats and bats, not all that can fit in the bag in the lockers at the same time,” Waterson said. “I can’t fit my softball bag in there without taking things out of the bag or putting things in there individually.”
Because of these limitations, many student-athletes avoid using the lockers altogether, a problem Rishmawi believes renovations could solve.
“It’s going to help a ton,” Rishmawi said. “They won’t keep bags in cars. We’ll be able to lock them up and put them in the lockers where they’re supposed to be.”
Beyond locker size, consideration is also being given to redesigning the space to remove some elements and better support the needs of many teams.
“Do we need showers there? Most locker rooms don’t have them anymore,” Rishmawi said. “I could see that space being converted into a team room where teams could meet at halftime or before the game. There’s a lot of good space that we could be using that right now we’re not utilizing.”
Principal Cindy Parravano said updated locker rooms could also increase participation in physical education classes by making the facilities more welcoming.
“Having a facility that is nicer to go into, people might be more willing to take the classes if they have a place to go change and it’s not so outdated or grungy,” Parravano said.
By improving the locker rooms, Parravano hopes that the space will be more effective, useful and appealing to students.
“You’ve got this space. What are you going to do with it?” Parravano said. “If you want people to take pride in things, you have to give them a reason to.”
