By Danielle Kolin

Eliza Eddison ’07 was passing through the quad during one of her frees during her sophomore year when she spotted a junior wearing a brightly colored taekwondo t-shirt. A few months earlier, Eddison had lost a shirt exactly like it and had searched the lost and found to no avail. Now the shirt was walking past her.

Eddison was suspicious, since few students compete in taekwondo tournaments. After deliberation, Eddison decided to approach the girl and ask her about the tournament.

“Did you go to the taekwondo tournament also?” Eddison asked. “Because I didn’t see you there.”
“Huh?” the junior answered, raising her eyebrows with a confused expression.

“The taekwondo tournament on your shirt,” Eddison explained. “I think that’s my shirt. Did you get it from the lost and found?” The junior didn’t answer and was clearly embarrassed, so Eddison walked away.

Two days later, the girl returned the shirt to Eddison during their Bel Canto class and “hung her head in shame,” Eddison said. 

The current lost and found system is identical to the one that was in place when Eddison lost her shirt. Books, sweatshirts and papers are kept in an open cabinet near the Student Store in Chalmers, and any student can search the cabinet and remove items.

“There’s no control,” said Irma Hernandez, bookstore director and a supervisor of the lost and found.
To prevent theft, more valuable items are kept with Assistant to the Head of Upper School Michelle Bracken in the administration office. Security is notified of lost wallets or cell phones.

“I’ve never found any of the things I’ve lost,” Garreth Anwar ’08 said. “Some kids probably lost their books, so they stole mine.”

Few students locate their items, and after a month the sweatshirts and books threaten to overflow the cabinet. The supervisors of the lost and found clear it out once a month rather. Salvageable items are donated to charities, while papers and binders are thrown away.

At the beginning of last week, the bins in the lost and found sat overflowing with sweatshirts and books from first semester. On Thursday of last week, however, the bins were completely empty.