Everyone knows the feeling. Turning the sink’s handle as you go to wash your hands, and consequently recoiling from the tremendous fountain of water being sprayed back at you as soon as your hands meet the faucet’s calamitous stream. For the rest of the day, you question whether it is just you- perhaps your misfortune at the sink was simply the result of user error. But come on, is there really a way to misuse a sink to that extreme? I think not. 

Here at Helena High School, we have six bathrooms (excluding the bathrooms in the shop building), some of which are home to the occasionally traitorous sink that will douse you in water if you are not careful. After being betrayed by one of these sinks, I felt passionate enough to go to every bathroom sink in the main school building and write a report.  

To rate each sink, I will be using the criteria of esteemed Tik Tok sink reviewer, @sinkreviews. Each sink will be rated on a scale of one to five sinks, and will be based on overall aesthetic, water pressure, and functionality.  

Art Hallway, Attendance Office, and Gym Sinks 

On my quest to find the best sink in Helena High School, I found that some of the sinks are quite similar to one another, especially the sinks in the art hallway, the sinks in the bathroom off the gym, and the sinks near the attendance office. Because these sinks are so similar, I will be lumping them into one general review. 

The design of these sinks is identical, all containing a single silver handle and faucet typical of a public-school bathroom. The single handle to turn the sink on and off acts as a convenient way to adjust the water temperature and stream to your liking, which truly personalizes the hand-washing experience. The water pressure is stunning for these sinks, giving you just enough water to clean your hands effectively but not so much that water splashes back up at you. This may be because of the slightly deeper basin, acting as an extra measure of preventing mess. The water drains quickly, making this sink the pinnacle of efficiency. 

Unfortunately, the overall aesthetic of these sinks is quite dismal. Although all the sinks were fairly clean, they simply do not have a “wow” factor to them. The basin’s circumference is slightly smaller than preferred, making it off-putting to the average handwasher’s eye. The hardware and the drain are very practical and get the job done, but if there was such a thing as a beauty pageant for school bathroom sinks, let’s just say that these would not bring home the sash and crown. Overall, I give these sinks 4/5 sinks.  

Sinks Near the Cafeteria 

I assumed the sinks down the hall from the cafeteria would be the same as the first three sinks reviewed because they have an identical design. I hoped they would have the same functionality. Unfortunately, this is not the case. 

While this sink did have the same handle to adjust the water’s temperature and pressure, the water’s stream at full blast is disappointingly low. Since these kinds of sinks only have one jet of water (rather than the sinks in the renovated bathroom with several smaller jets), it is crucial that the sink’s stream is full enough to wash your hands with maximum efficacy. Without this proper abundance of water, this sink makes for a very lackluster handwashing experience. I give this sink 3/5 sinks. 

Renovated Sinks 

At first glance, you would never know that this school’s renovated sinks (located across from the Little Theatre and the upstairs math hallway) have the potential to be so treacherous. Rest assured, the beautiful design on these sinks initially hides many of their secrets. These sinks are designed with a communal basin that is shared among two faucets, with both faucets equipped with sleek motion sensors. 

However, the artistry of these sinks is completely lost to their horrendous functionality. The motion sensors often do not trigger when expected, leaving hand-washers startled and dazed from a sudden blast of water. Even worse, the water pressure on these sinks is high enough to genuinely strike fear in one’s heart. Especially with a shallow basin, the amount of water splashing back onto the countertop, mirror, floor, as well as the hand-washer themselves is simply disgraceful. For reference, it would be equally as difficult to wash your hands in these sinks as it would be to wash your hands underneath a fire hydrant, Niagra Falls, or a tsunami.  

Perhaps the most perplexing part of these sinks is that each one has slightly different water pressure. The sinks in the renovated bathrooms on the lower floor of the building will spray water back at you, but it is nothing compared to the sinks on the upper floor of the building. It is a heinous guessing game to try and figure out which of the sinks on the upper floor will douse you in water or not (when trying to avoid this, a good rule of thumb is to remember that the two sinks farthest from the door in the renovated upper bathroom will spray you, but the two sinks closest to the door will not). Because of this puzzling discrepancy, I give the renovated bathroom sinks 2/5 sinks.  

Overall, Helena High School sinks do function as they should (apart from the renovated sinks upstairs). Whether or not they are aesthetically pleasing is a different matter of discussion. But remember, a sink’s beauty is not just based on how pretty it looks. The sink’s personality is just as important as its aesthetic. At the end of the day, the only truly important thing is whether it will actually wash your hands, and I say that Helena High School sinks (for the most part) live up to this expectation.