North Allegheny is renowned for outstanding academics and athletics. Parents, students, and teachers alike all flock to the school in hopes of getting a taste of what North Allegheny has to offer. However, while the grades and championships are outstanding, there are a few problems with the structure, or should I say building, of North Allegheny Senior High School itself.

Bathrooms

Shockingly, my complaint about the bathroom has nothing to do with cleanliness. I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and say that I by no means expect the bathrooms to be clean all the time. Cleaning up after a bunch of spoiled teenagers would probably be just about the worst job to have at a high school.

Just the other day, I went to wash my hands at one of the sinks and found cheese clogging the drain. Yes, 4 Cheese Mexican Blend shreds somehow found their way into the bathroom sink. I might be able to rationalize the cheese in the sink if we were in elementary school, but the fact that half the student body here are legal adults makes me a little reluctant to excuse something so foul. If you’re that person… you should rethink your life choices, just saying.

So, no, I’m not coming for the janitors here.

My problem is with the bathrooms themselves. It’s no secret that you can’t walk into a single bathroom here and expect every single stall to work. What do I mean by “work”?

My definition of “work” is that the stalls have an actual lock and be well supplied. For instance, in the girl’s bathroom by the senior lockers, there are four stalls. Two out of those four stalls have a tangible lock on them. While the one lockless stall has been left for dead, the other stall has been rigged with a hangeresque looking device that is supposed to somehow hold the door closed. Now, while I commend the inventor for their creativity, I can’t help but feel that, after all the stress we students endure in this inordinately competitive environment, we deserve a bathroom stall with a lock on it.

Clocks

When I look up to check the time, I can’t say I’m shocked when I find an upside-down four accompanied by two or three other foreign numbers staring back at me. The digital clocks around the school are infamous for portraying some kind of backwards symbols that look more like hieroglyphics than they do numbers.

My only question is: how? How is it that some days the clocks are totally fine, while others they are completely messed up?

This bust is more comedic than the others; thankfully, we all have our own phones so we can check the actual time.

However, as I’m sure everyone remembers, not only were the clocks not physically showing the right time, but the bell system was completely messed up. Before winter break, the bells rung a whole two minutes late. Now, they ring a minute early.

At this point, it feels like they’re playing a practical joke on us. Not that I’m complaining, though—a minute earlier out of school is a minute well spent.

Temperature

The climate of this school is undoubtedly notorious. First period is the equivalent to Antarctica, second is so humid it could be comfortably settled in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, and the next is nothing short of the Sahara desert.

I honestly don’t understand how one period I’ll be sweating and rolling up my sleeves and then an hour later the classroom will be so cold that I’m warned to “bring a winter jacket” to class. Y’know, the kind of jackets we’re supposed to wear outside in the snow. And even then, I’m still shivering.

When a classroom on the first floor is 55 degrees and a classroom on the third floor is 80, I feel like I have to constantly dress in layers — that is, unless I want to be in a constant cycle of either freezing or sweating all day.

The good news is we can all say we’ve been in a singular building that simultaneously expresses all twelve possible climates on Earth.

Water and Co.

I know for a fact I’m not the only one who has never felt a drop of hot water from the sinks in this school. You could turn the hot handle all the way up, let it run for ten seconds, and nothing but maybe lukewarm water would come out.

Another common water-catastrophe is the constant breaking of the water fountains. Specifically, the fountains with a spout for a water bottle.

The idea of encouraging reusable water bottles is great. I think the addition of the water bottle fillers is an easy way to both keep students hydrated and endorse the importance of reusing.

The only problem is that, well, some of the machines are often broken.

For example, the one fountain on the second floor right by the NATV studio has been out of commission for months. Bright yellow caution tape seems to have even molded itself there, prepared to stick it out for the rest of the year. Not only is the fountain currently broken, but this is the second time in only two years that its been totally out of order.

While I appreciate the massive amounts of opportunities NA has given me, I can’t help but sit back and laugh at some of the “building busts”.