Have you ever wondered what’s inside your teachers’ closets? These appliances are usually used to store everyday items such as clothes, random supplies, or even extra stashes of paper, but some Mills teachers have seemed to have changed the closet game. From sneaker collections to insects, you can find many unpredictable items.
The first location we are investigating is in the College and Career Center, where Lorenzo Hockaday, who helps students with jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities, reveals his extremely immense collection of shoes! When we peek inside his closet, we find 6-7 pairs of shoes… well it’s actually more like 60-70.
“I have an embarrassing amount of shoes in my closet, from Air-Forces to dunks to basketball shoes, you name it,” he admits. Why so many shoes, you may ask? According to Hockaday, he actually has a number of famous athletes donating him fresh pairs for free!
“Lebron actually gifted me one of my dunks. He met me after a game and gifted me a pair,” he explains.. With his dozen pairs of shoes which range from athletic to casual everyday shoes, Hockaday seems to be prepared for almost every situation. Maybe you’ll catch him moonwalking his way to help a student with college applications in his dunks!
We also decided to pay art teacher Matt Christenson a visit in the art room. As we conducted our interview, we were given permission to rummage through his closet and when we reached the bottom, we came upon a shocking discovery: a locked suitcase labeled “School Funds.” Upon this discovery, we decided to question Christenson.
“I’ll fess up, the school funds are stored in one of my closets,” explained Christenson. “Sometimes, I kind of open up one of the suitcases and borrow a few dollars. Sorry kids!”
Christenson further explains the amount of trust the school has and adds on how the school casually comes by and grabs a suitcase of funds. Considering Christenson has only received these funds during his second year on campus, he seems to be doing a pretty smooth job of making sure the money is stored behind all of his art clutters.
The last closet we decided to investigate was in room 231, which belongs to biology teacher Anthony Dilemme. In addition to supplies, his closet contains something much more lively – an enormous ant colony. “During the pandemic, when I’d get bored, I would do more than just touch grass outside. I really got into keeping insects. Since then the colony grew really big,” Dilemme explained. “This is a huge ant farm, basically. And I’m a biology teacher, so I like to have this here for my students to learn from them.” Still, knowing that an entire ant civilization lives just a few feet away from your seat might make you view that tiny closet door quite differently. Fortunately, you won’t have to see Dilemme carry this colony around campus! Phew! Anyone with myrmecophobia (fear of ants) is safe!
After a thorough investigation with these closets, one thing is clear: many of our teachers’ closets may be far more interesting than you think. Whether there is an ant colony or even just piles of celebrity sneakers, you never really know what might be hiding behind those closet doors. So just a disclaimer, if you see your teacher going to open their closet door, don’t be surprised if stacks of cash spill onto the floor or if something unexpected crawls out…
