The fund, which opened at Huntington and Coweeman middle schools in September with funding from an anonymous donor, is for students who are having trouble buying new clothes or hygiene items.

In schools where more than half of students are classified as low-income, lockers provide young people with basic needs, which helps them become better learners as well as more self-confident.

Each middle school received $5,000 to open what school officials call “clothes closets.”

Huntington Principal Kim Allais said Coweeman advisor Rachel Leinweber proposed the idea in September after seeing how a similar program benefited students at Kelso School District elementary schools, and the donor quickly agreed.

Kelso High School doesn’t have a wardrobe, though. Family and Community Resource Center It fills a similar gap by providing students with necessities. Every Kelso elementary school has a clothing closet with pre-purchased clothes for students to choose from, but middle schools handle things differently.

Students are allowed to order clothes online from stores to ensure that they have clothes that they feel comfortable in and that suit their sense of style. like a target with the help of school staff.

Students are given a clothing request form that suggests a variety of store options, but they are also allowed to request stores not listed.

“We wanted them to feel like they were making that decision,” Registrar Jenny Parsons said.

Parsons, who runs Huntington’s clothing closet, said ordering clothes from multiple stores makes it less visually obvious when students wear clothes they pick up from school.

It also helps you save space since secondary schools do not have a dedicated wardrobe area as in primary schools. At Huntington, supplies are instead kept in a cabinet in the conference room. Parsons said allowing clothes shopping has a big impact on the student who first visits the locker.

“He had a smile on his face that you don’t normally see,” he said.

After the student bought new clothes, Parsons noticed that she was putting more effort into other parts of her appearance, such as styling her hair. The math teacher reported answering a question in class for the first time that year.

In addition to the opportunity to order clothes for students, hygiene kits are also offered in the wardrobes. The kits include things like shampoo and conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary wipes, and feminine hygiene products, if available. If a student runs out of anything in their kit, they can get a new one by visiting the wardrobe at any time.

Not having access to hygiene products can cause students to miss school because they are uncomfortable or embarrassed, Allais said. By providing these products for free, the school hopes to increase school attendance for students who are low-income, homeless, or otherwise struggling. Huntington’s clothing closet also includes shirts featuring the school’s husky mascot for students who want to participate in the tradition of wearing school spirit attire on Wednesdays but cannot afford to purchase them.

According to the state Office of Public Instruction, 69% of Huntington’s 569 students in the 2023-2024 school year were classified as low-income and 8.4% were homeless.

Coweeman had 510 students, 60 percent of whom were low-income and 3.3 percent were homeless.

Data on the amount of students in foster care at specific schools was not available because the number was too small to report without compromising student privacy, but districtwide 0.5% of students were in foster care that year.

More than two-thirds of the district’s students overall are considered low-income, and enough people qualify for free or reduced lunch for the district to qualify for a federal program. makes school meals free for all students.

To understand who might need help with clothing or hygiene products, Parsons reaches out to students who take advantage of the school’s Backpack Buddies program, which provides students who identify as low-income, homeless, unaccompanied or disabled with snacks to last them through the weekend. preventative maintenance. Allais said students were able to more easily talk to Parson about needing help because there wasn’t a teacher or counselor interacting with him regularly.

“They feel comfortable around Parson because he is not under adult supervision,” Allais said.

Teachers and counselors can also direct students who they think could benefit from the wardrobe. The entire process is kept as confidential as possible and it is left up to the students whether they want to talk about it or not. Unless a staff member nominates a student, they are often unaware of who uses these services.

“The goal is for no one to know,” Parson said.