Wal-Mart donates $2,500 to fund upgrading of Fitch girls locker room

New Girls Locker Room at Fitch High School

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The Girls Locker Room will be remodeled during the summer thanks to a former Physical Education Teacher June Logan.

By Jon Moffett

The locker room will undergo significant upgrades.

AUSTINTOWN —A biology experiment at Austintown Fitch High School proved what many may have already suspected:

The girls locker room was one of the dirtiest places in the entire school.

Michelle Renda, 16, and a sophomore at Fitch, said her biology class conducted the experiment to identify the school’s filthiest spots. One of the chief suspects was the girls locker room, which had not been significantly updated for more than 40 years.

The results were conclusive.

“Most of the bacteria was on the tops of the lockers,” she said.

Now the school is moving forward with plans to upgrade the room similarly to what was done with the boys locker room about four years ago.

June Logan, a former teacher at the school, is heading the project. She said the school had an original estimate of $25,000 for the project, which will be completed before school resumes in the fall. That figure was reduced to about $18,000 because volunteers offered to remove the old lockers to reduce labor costs.

Students have had fundraisers, and alumni and local businesses have donated money for the project. So far, the school has amassed about $13,000 and expects the rest of the money for the project shortly, Logan said.

Wal-Mart donated a check for $2,500 in a ceremony Monday to the school. Matt Simcox, manager of the Austintown store, said the money was going toward a good cause.

“They deserve this money, and fortunately we are in a position where we can give it to them,” said Simcox, who has managed the Mahoning Avenue store for about three years.

“As a company, you’re proud to be able to help.”

Many of the lockers are rusted, dirty and covered in graffiti. Some of the lockers don’t have working handles.

Logan said the plan is to replace the lockers and change the room’s layout. The new 72-inch lockers will border the perimeter of the room. In the center will be benches for the students to change. The showers will also be renovated, and the room will be painted.

As it is now, students called the locker room “gross” and “disgusting.”

“It’s almost gotten to the point where you don’t want to put your stuff in them,” said Alex Darby, 16 and a sophomore at Fitch.

Logan, a former physical education teacher, said she couldn’t stand to look at the locker room and ignore an evident problem.

“I’m a person who can’t look at something that needs to be done and not do anything about it,” she said.

The locker room is used for gym classes, but it’s also where the visiting team changes for athletic events. Students said the locker room’s condition is an embarrassment to the school.

“We care about accommodating them, too,” said sophomore Ashley McKelvey, 16.

Darby agreed, saying, “We’d rather give members of the visiting teams a better impression of our school.”

jmoffett@vindy.com