Starting this year, the rows of gray lockers at Hoboken High School will be covered with stories of Hoboken.
A short time ago, Interim Prinicpal Al Joy read a brochure for LockerSkins by SchoolWhip. LockerSkins are designs that cover school lockers with photos, memories, or in some cases, student drawings.
“It’s a way of not just raising money, but beautifying the school and enhancing school and community pride,” Joy said.
Not only is Joy inviting school groups to become involved and purchase a locker space for their own design, but he is also reaching out to the Hoboken community.
“It’s a way of not just raising money but beautifying the school and enhancing school and community pride.” – Hoboken Interim Principal Al Joy
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The school is selling 78 locker sections throughout the halls of Hoboken High School.
“Some sections only have six lockers, some have 23 lockers,” Joy said. Each locker costs $25. There will be a five-dollar surcharge for each section of lockers purchased.
“The [Hoboken High School] Hispanic Culture Club is in the process of designing one with the company,” Joy said. “We also already have the [Hoboken High School] Italian Club internally designing theirs before they call the company.”
Designs underway
Christopher Munoz is a history teacher and the advisor to the Hispanic Culture Club (HCC), and said he thought it was important to take part in the project.
“We were very enthusiastic to do it,” Munoz said. “The HCC likes to foster school spirit. These decorations are going to be up for years. This is a way for the HCC to make an impact and contribute to Hoboken High School.”
The decals are advertised to last for 30 years outdoors, so Joy estimates that the designs purchased this year will remain on the lockers for at least 50 years.
“They are graffiti free,” Joy said. “You can actually have pictures or photographs of students. It really makes it look sharp.”
Munoz said the HCC raised funds on their own for the purchase of the locker designs.
“We did Halloween ‘boo grams,’ ” Munoz said. “People purchased little bears and we delivered them throughout the Hoboken school system. They made little bags of candy and little bears that students and teachers send to each other. It was nice that they came up with their own campaign to raise the money.”
The fundraiser brought in enough money for the HCC’s design, approximately $425.
Famous alumni featured
Joy said when the process is finished, the school would like to be able to design their own locker section featuring famous alumni.
Though Joy did not release the names of the people who would be featured on the famous alumni locker, one candidate may be Derrick Alston, a professional basketball player in Argentina who played for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks. Another famous Hoboken alumnus who made his living in basketball was David Walsh, a Hall of Fame referee. The 1907 graduate of Hoboken High School co-authored the first ever Manual of Basketball Officiating before being inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961.
And of course, there’s late crooner Frank Sinatra. He actually attended an earlier version of Hoboken High when it was in the Demarest building.
“[The goal] is to completely cover all the lockers in the school so that we have a living mural for our community, our school, and our clubs,” Joy said. “People can see different things about our school, like our history, course offerings, athletics, our achievements, and they’ll also be able to see things about the history of Hoboken.”
Joy said he hopes the athletic organizations will also buy into this plan to create what is essentially a re-design of Hoboken High School hallways.
“I’ve seen other schools that have done it [in pictures] and it looks fantastic,” Joy said. “There are very few in New Jersey; we’re probably one of the first.”
Community organizations interested in taking part in the design should reach out to Principal Al Joy’s office at (201) 356-3700.
Ray Smith can be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com.