When students returned from Spring Break, they noticed many changes about Ayala, but one change that most guys noticed was the floor being all ripped up in front of the gym bathroom and ultimately closing it down. The convenience of the bathroom is helped plenty by the science building bathrooms, but this affects the flow of “bathroom traffic” for male students.

The extended closure of the bathroom was not one many male students saw, as that particular bathroom had on and off closures throughout the weeks leading up to Spring Break. Reasons for the ultimate closure of the bathroom fluctuate, but by the looks and reasons of the floor being torn up, the reason may be plumbing issues. That particular bathroom has a history of flooding, whether it be by students or the plumbing in question, it was due for attention and closure by janitor staff and time to better the out-dated bathroom.

“I’ve been here about a year, but so far it doesn’t have a good look to it, but I think once they fix it, it’ll be much better,” Taylor Pierson (9) said. 

Now, with the closure of the bathroom, boys restrooms have been cut down to 2, one being in the science building and the other across campus near the multi-purpose room (MPR). This shouldn’t prove bad for the male students of Ayala, as there is now one near every quad, but this proves an issue for boy athletes and boy students who have regular 6th periods. With the closure of the locker rooms within the gym, male athletes are forced to change in bathrooms. They are usually packed within the tight cornered bathrooms, having to maneuver around each other, and students having to use the bathroom within that jam-packed room.

“Everyone needs to use [the bathroom], everyone needs to change for sports. It’s very important that both bathrooms need to be open,” Jacob Baty (10) said. 

Male students usually wait until all of the athletes have left the bathroom to use it, go across the school to use the one by the MPR, or don’t go in general. When the gym bathroom was open, this left one bathroom open for athletes and one for students to use without worry.

“I’d still use the bathroom during 6th period, but if both were open it’d be more comfortable in there,” Ryan Garcia (10) said. 

The bathrooms of Ayala have much history and stories, like school threats, the infamous sink/soap stealing incidents, and the numerous malfunctions that occurred with toilets and urinals. To wipe away that past, students continue to believe that if Ayala was to redo the bathrooms, the horrific past of our aged bathrooms would have a new start.