Extreme Makeover: Locker Edition

The high school locker. The home away from home. Some teens hang around their lockers to chat -- just as businessmen and women gather at the water cooler to catch up on the latest news. Others use their lockers as their trash cans, beauty salons, private libraries or a showcase of their personalities.

The assignment: Find an uninteresting locker and a willing designer to give that locker some life. Stay within a $20 budget.

The victim: Allison Bennett. Age 16. Junior at Timpview High School in Provo. Favorite colors include purple and green. Loves baby animals. Gum chewer. Locker is used for . . . Well, when we asked Allison she said her locker is rarely used.

The designer: Hannah Lockhart. Age 14. Freshman at Timpview High School. A style-maker. Loves arts and crafts. Has a good fashion sense and eye for color.

The Mission: Finding the best stores to stretch $20 isn't too difficult if you know where to look. The first store Hannah went to was Robert's Crafts. There she found the perfect designer wallpaper for the inside of the locker, and she picked up some purple buttons. Second, she hit The Dollar Tree. Here she purchased many different odds and ends. "Allison told me that she likes the colors purple and green . . . so while shopping I tried to find those colors that would look great in her locker," said Hannah. "I also got a calendar (with baby animals on it), some buttons and a mirror to put in there as well." Third, she went to Kmart where she purchased a binder, gum and some pens.

The process: Measuring, cutting, taping and gluing. Some of the preparation was done before the actual decoration of the locker, such as covering a binder and personalizing it with Allison's name. Buttons were also glued to the mirror and the pens. Cutting and measuring the wallpaper was the most tedious part of the job. The perfect fit took time.

The unveiling: Allison's reaction was positive. She seemed really flattered that someone would take the time to match her personality. "You used my two favorite colors, and it was just cute," she said. Allison also enjoyed the gum that had been placed in a rack inside the locker.

Mission accomplished: Hannah enjoyed using her creative skills, and Allison was happy to be the recipient of a fine-looking locker. Now perhaps her locker will be used more often.

The future: Maybe we have a new reality show in the making. Networks . . . are you listening?

Coryn Cope is a junior at Timpview High School and a member of the Deseret Morning News Pulse team of high school writers. If you are a Utah high school student and have a topic you would like to see covered, please e-mail pulse@desnews.com or write to Susan Whitney at the Deseret Morning News.

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