Before he carried the 28-pound laundry basket, Junior Nathan Carlston would carry a backpack, but this wouldn’t last. His backpack would be organized for 2-3 weeks before transitioning to a pile of papers that became well known by students across the school. This lasted for weeks until Carlston, while looking at this stack of papers in his room late at night, realized that something needed to change. This started the idea of the laundry basket backpack, a makeshift backpack that Carlston designed with a laundry basket, duct tape, and innovation.

Over the past weeks, Carlston has improved the basket, adding water bottle holders, a duct tape lunch pouch, pencil bags taped to the sides, and a neck pad that accompanies handles to allow himself to carry the basket from class to class effectively. Now, instead of the disheveled stack of papers, people recognize the white basket as Carlston walks the hallways.

While some would say that the openness of his laundry basket would cause him to lose papers as well as disorganization, Junior Drew Clarke understands why it works for Carlston.

“It is more accessible than a backpack, but it allows him to keep his stuff together, more than the pile of papers,” Clarke said.

While some assumed that he disliked backpacks in general, Carlston just had a harder time using them due to his “splayed” stack of papers. He prefers to take an open approach to organizing.

“In my mind, with this, everything is open,” Carlston said. “If I need to put away a paper quickly or get out a paper quickly, I can just reach down and instantly put it in a folder without having to open a backpack or find the folder.”

Though his laundry basket backpack is unconventional, it offers inspiration for other students who struggle to organize their schoolwork. Countless studies show that organization in any sense allows a person to be less stressed. Now it comes down to how students choose to do just that.

According to AP Physics Teacher Bryce Henderson, this new system works well for Carlston, despite it being different than what he initially intended.

“Every person is different,” he said. “While I encourage (and expect) my students to be organized with a binder system, if the binder doesn’t work then find something that does!”