The 101 On 101

The Chamber of Secrets. The Temple of Doom. Room 101?  The Talon explores the most mysterious room on campus.

As a senior, I am confronted each morning with a baffling mystery as I approach my locker from the front gate.

Restroom…102…Locker…103…104… Something is missing here.

Room 101.

As the elusive Room 101 is not marked with the trademark square window of the 100s to 400s, nor the same flow of students marching in and out between classes, it is often overlooked by passersby. To most students, the room is just a plain brown door.

So what is this mystery room, and why is it there?

“Room 101 is basically a storage closet for stuff for liturgies and rallies — Student Council stuff,” explains ASB Rally Chair Quentin Barbosa (‘15), a member to one of the few groups allowed in and out of 101.

“[Room 101] is like the Room of Requirement,” adds ASB Publicity/Historian Daniel Lee (‘15), “Except it’s always there, and it always has what you require”.

Wizardly references aside, it very quickly became clear that this humble chamber of secrets is of paramount importance to the entire student body.

I myself was lucky enough to get an informal tour of the room, which my guide, ASB Council Moderator Ms. Rose Ann Holmes, more accurately described as a “giant storage shed”.

“People wonder where all of these things come from,” she explains, referencing the bins of Halloween costumes, holiday decorations, and party supplies that adorn the packed shelves that surround an equally cluttered floor.

“Storage, as you might guess, is at a premium on this campus,”  Ms. Holmes continues. Having storage space with “such easy access to the main lawn” makes the many student activities that take place there possible.

Along with student council supplies, Room 101 also houses Campus Ministry supplies, and even a small office for the security guards.

Sometimes there are people in our lives that make all the difference, even though it may not seem like it at the time. Other times these people are storage closets.