Siobhan Jebb is a 2024 Staples High School graduate, and former co-captain of the volleyball team. She attends the College of Charleston, double majoring in political science, and women’s and gender studies.
As a senior, Siobhan wrote about the inequity between the boys and girls locker rooms at Staples. On Wednesday — more than a year later — the Board of Finance voted to spend $30,000 in soft costs, to explore creating 1 or 2 “team rooms” for girls varsity sports.
Siobhan’s piece has been adapted for a “Students Speak” submission.
I am jealous.
As I walk through the Staples girls locker room, I fantasize about a space that I could have used. But reality quickly interrupts that thought.
I see a pile of crutches, rusted and molded ceramic in our “showers,” ripped boxes, caution tape, and worn pieces of paper saying “Do Not Use” stuck to the wall.
The sign is not needed. The showers are too unsanitary, and besides, broken.
A handicap shower in the Staples girls locker room …
Not to mention a wooden table propped on its side, blocking girls from getting into the shower stalls — as if we would want to, in their condition.
I am jealous. I feel angry. Despite playing volleyball at Staples, I haven’t grasped the gaps in athletics here — specifically with the locker rooms — until senior year.
Looking back, I hated going to the girls locker room before and after gym class. The lighting is depressingly dim, and the space feels like an abandoned basement.
… and another view.
Turning the corner into the bathroom I would catch the “shower room” in the corner of my eye, but never paid much attention. It was never discussed.
I never thought of our locker room as “bad,” because I had no idea what the boys had access to, or what girls sports have access to at other schools.
After 4 years in the athletic program, 3 as a varsity player and 1 as co-captain, it wasn’t until my final year that I became aware of the inequity.
It was just weirdly accepted, like everyone was waiting for someone to step up.
Why wasn’t this talked about? Why do we allow girls to wonder why they aren’t worthy of the resources and space the boys have? One could argue I was one of those girls.
Staples boys locker room showers.
The boys have not 1 but 2 locker rooms. One includes clean showers. This doesn’t sit right, as I walk past what’s supposed to be the handicap shower stall in the girls locker room.
I see paper taped on the wall: “SHOWER CLOSED MAINT. DEPT.” The date on the bottom says “12/06.”
2006 burns in my brain. I take a deep breath. But it brings dust and a damp smell, which only angers me more.
The girls showers have been closed for 19 years.
I am jealous. My best friend Liv, in Mamaroneck, New York, got to clean out her cubby at the end of her volleyball season. I didn’t.
I am confused. I saw the customized cubby lockers for the boys at Staples, while girls don’t bother learning their locker combos because our backpacks can’t fit.
Throughout my last high school volleyball season, I became more aware and annoyed that we didn’t have an appropriate space to go as a team. A space we could talk together, a setting away from the coach, the court, the opposing team and the scoreboard.
I talked about it with Liv. I asked if having a nice locker room was something I should be upset about missing out on. She told me she couldn’t imagine not having a proper locker room.
She spoke about how the varsity locker room became a safe, sacred space before and after home games. It was comforting to have a room away from the coach, so the captains could talk to the team or teammates individually.
Last month, Liv showed me Mamaroneck High’s girls locker room and varsity locker room. I was in awe.
Mamaroneck High School girls varsity locker room.
They get clean working showers. They make name tags for their cubbies. They take their sneakers and knee pads off together. They get designated spots for their bags, and coat hangers for their windbreakers.
They get a television for film sessions. They get a mini-fridge for drinks and snacks. They get a whiteboard to plan plays and drills.
My varsity team and I should’ve gotten all those things too. The boys at Staples get all those things, and more.
I thought about how messed up the situation is here, and how nobody ever talks about it. But many people joke about it.
Much of the time, the person making the joke was a female athlete herself. I myself have made jokes and sarcastic comments about our laughable locker room, as Staples hangs a banner of our “US News & World Report” highest ranking above one of the main entrances.
Staples football and boys lacrosse locker room. In the winter, it becomes the wrestling practice room. (All photos/Siobhan Jebb)
Nothing changes if nothing changes. I changed my anger and jealousy into motivation and fuel.
I want to make a difference, since it looked like no one else will. If I can help create a new, appropriate and equal locker room for female athletes at Staples High School, I will feel accomplished.
I don’t want my beloved underclass teammates I have grown to know and adore to feel like they don’t matter, or aren’t worth the same facilities and spaces the boys are. I just hope my story has a happy ending.
(To submit a “Student Speaks” — or for questions about this feature — email 06880blog@gmail.com. We will work with students to help craft their story. Anonymity, if requested, is assured.)
