Free shower at the HPER not just about saving money

By C. Ann Jensen

March 21, 2008 | I'm a hippie, a conservationist, and a green-living person, or whatever you want to call us. I ride a bike everywhere, I try to eat only organic foods and heal my ailments with herbs. But in the same breath I'm a cheapskate, which has fueled me being a hippie.

My continuous reuse of yogurt containers isn't just because I want to recycle, I'm too cheap to go out and buy plastic containers made specifically to hold my lunch. I don't Dumpster dive because I hate seeing good bread go to waste; I hate buying it. I also hate paying an astronomical gas bill because I felt like turning my bathroom into a sauna after a long bike ride, which is why I now only shower at the HPER building.

Yes, I know what is going through your mind -- "Wow, what a cheapskate" -- but honestly, any full-time, student-fee-paying college student at Utah State University would do the same if they knew what was good for them.

As a student you have already paid for an unlimited amount of showers at the HPER. I am sure student fee number No. 156 has something to do with the upkeep of the endless amount of shower heads that the women's locker room seems to possess.

I feel that it is my duty as both a conservationist of gas bills for students and a journalist to dispense my knowledge of the free shower to my fellow students so they to can enjoy the bohemian freedom that a free shower offers.

Don't worry about renting a locker to keep your shower necessities in. I've crammed my entire shower from home into a small locker with no lock on it in the HPER for the last two semesters, and no one has touched my stuff, so it's safe. Grab a random locker and stash away, just use some common sense when picking a location. Most people in the swimming classes use the lockers closest to the door for the pool, so use caution in that area.

Bringing your own towel is optional. If you are obsessive-compulsive about your towel and don't want to leave one in your locker, you can rent them for $.50 and they always give women two towels. Plus you know that it is clean, unlike the towel in my locker -- which could be getting used by someone else right now, I have no idea.

Prime times to shower? Traffic is high in the morning, but not to the point of not being able to find a shower or having lukewarm water to rinse. But I can understand the want to not be seen slightly unclothed, so take advantage of your newfound freedom and shower whenever! I go during lunch sometimes, or between classes if I have a solid 30 minutes to freshen up. The afternoons are good times to go, and the best is in the evening when there are very few people in the locker room.

The joy of showering at the HPER isn't just that it is free. You don't have to fight roommates over shower time or worry about cleaning the shower because it is cleaned nightly by a crew of highly trained janitorial professionals. But the most satisfying thing isn't the freeness of it or drop in my water and gas bills. It is the fact I now have an unlimited amount of hot water waiting for me, any time.

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