Two from San Marco help redesign girls’ locker room at Bolles
Four senior student athletes – two from San Marco – had a hand in redesigning the new girls’ locker room on the Bolles Upper School campus in San Jose.
Aoife O’Riordan
This summer, several cross-country runners met with the Bolles’ maintenance office to discuss opportunities to improve the girls’ locker room. Prior to this school year, the girls used a smaller room with little space for a changing area, storage units and shower functions. Outside the room was a small covered pavilion, where the student athletes were forced to stash their backpacks while they participated in after-school practices.
“Our main priority was getting warm water and having more space,” said Aoife O’Riordan of San Marco, a cross country runner who helped spearhead the design. “Because the locker room is for cross-country runners, soccer players and basketball players, we needed more space so girls weren’t crammed once inside.”
Lillie Kulik
Joining O’Riordan were her cross coun-try teammates Lillie Kulik of San Marco and Ally Hajda and Brittany Wilkinson, who assisted on formulating new plans for the space.
The four girls met to discuss ideas for a new interior configuration of the locker room, including requests for more mirror and counter space. O’Riordan drew up the ideas on a piece of graph paper and helped align the different elements so they could be located in the reconfigured space. While maintenance representatives also had ideas for the locker room, the end design was inspired by the thoughts of the four girls.
The newly-configured locker room now includes 84 cubby spaces, which allow athletes to sit down as well as to store clothes, bags and food during practice. A large shower room is now outfitted with larger overhead showerheads and new water-heating equipment capable of allowing the entire team enough hot water for quick showers after practice.
“One of the most important things we have now are the two bulletin boards for notices and pictures,” O’Riordan said. “We encourage runners to bring in photos of past races and camps to really encourage the feeling of being on a team.”
Outside the locker room is an expanded covered porch, which gives the athletes more space to drop their backpacks and catch some shade before heading out on the field. New landscaping along the sidewalk and covered area provides a more visually attractive entry to the stadium as well.
“I’m just glad we finally have a facility for our girls that they like and will actually use,” said Bolles Athletic Director Matt Morris.
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