Even with dull brown walls, frequently empty paper dispensers and perpetually locked stalls, the bathrooms at White Station are a constant in Spartan life. Many students may relax in a teacher’s classroom, others may sit outside in the courtyard, but some repeatedly return to a bathroom to take a step away from the daily stress. As students undergo their four years of high school, many tend to gravitate back to certain bathrooms they have established as their favorite. 

“I love the senior gym lobby bathroom with the yellow tiles because no one’s ever in there, and it’s good to take a number two,” Elissa Prewitt (11) said. “I never had a favorite bathroom until I found this one.”

Far from the main building’s chaos, the senior gym lobby houses two of the quietest bathrooms on campus. Both the boy’s and girl’s restrooms remain relatively undisturbed. 

“My favorite has to be the one in the senior gym [lobby] because there’s nothing too bad going on in there,” Colin King (12) said. “There are no walls taken off of anything, and there’s not a lot of graffiti, and it doesn’t smell [bad]. In all the other bathrooms there’s either something going on in there, or they’re very unsanitary.”

With many students traveling in and out of the bathrooms, stalls being locked and only five minutes in between classes, many find it inconvenient going to bathrooms in main hallways.

“I like the freshman bathrooms the best, but in the main building, my favorite bathroom would have to be the one across from Mr. Pentecost’s room because it’s always the cleanest, and no one’s ever in there,” Amya Salle (11) said.

It may seem foreign to some to walk unnecessarily far just to use a bathroom, but other students have become accustomed to unpleasant bathrooms and choose to avoid them.

“I typically go out of my way to walk all the way [to the senior gym] even when I’m in the ROTC building,” King said. “My favorite experience would have to be watching a kid punch the tiles off the wall in the senior bathroom. He was just going crazy on the wall, but I left with one of the tiles in my hand.”

Most bathrooms bring slightly unpleasant experiences. When rushing to go to the bathroom between classes, the most irritating feeling is pushing a bathroom door open only to feel the blunt stiffness of your face against a locked door. However, going to the bathroom may sometimes feel like a lottery, and finding the perfect, quiet bathroom being the jackpot. 

“I go to the east annex one a lot, and I use it at the end of the day so it’s a place I can go and relax,” Anandi Durgam (9) said. “In the east annex, two of the stalls are closed off including my favorite one.”

No matter which bathroom you enter, the Sharpie stained walls are unavoidable. Whether students are expressing their artistic abilities or simply vandalizing for fun, the graffiti can be highly unique, enjoyable or upsetting. 

“It’s annoying when people have full conversations on the walls or quote TikToks, stuff like that,” Salle said. “The graffiti can be kind of depressing sometimes …  but sometimes it’s like ‘You look beautiful,’ or ‘Have a good day.’ I guess it can help people have conversations on the wall, and come in to see what people have said.”

In any kind of relationship, mutual respect and valuable time together are crucial, and it is no different between a student and the bathrooms. Whether students enter the bathroom once a day or very rarely, the connection that has been created is one that is unique, one that is unbreakable. 

“When my favorite bathroom is closed, I miss it,” Durgam said. “I guess I have developed a bond with them because I use them every single day, and it is where I can take a break from the world and all the noises around.”