Since Armuchee High School no longer has lockers, students carry everything they could possibly need in their school bags. Students lug around their backpacks almost the whole eight hour school day plus the bus and car rides to and from school; that’s about forty five hours a week that students are with their backpacks. Many students carry the same backpacks for many years at a time and often create personal bonds with their bags. Overtime, a student’s backpack morphs into an extension of themselves. How often do you see students with pins and chains on their bags that show something about them? If you noticed a My Chemical Romance band pin on someone’s bag, you could probably make the assumption that that is one of their favorite bands. Or if someone carried a curling iron everyday, you’d assume they enjoy curling their own hair and may not have enough time in the morning to do so.
If you were to take a peek in Lily Geodert’s backpack, the first thing to catch your eye would be her two sets of drumsticks. Lily is a percussionist in the AHS band, which almost explains perfectly why drumsticks are a part of her daily luggage. But not only does Lily carry them for class but also as a cure to her day to day boredom. Lily said, “ I always have them just in case I want to tap out a rhythm in my spare time.”
You would find a plastic chicken egg in Mrs. Hughes’s bag from the “Hatch day” party she threw for her students in celebration of the hatching of the class’s eggs. Along with the plastic egg, you would find several tubes of chapstick, only one of which being full. Mrs. Hughes said, “I’m addicted!”. It’s rumored that she even sells it as a prize in her class store.
Nehemias Lopez’s bag is loaded down with a massive amount of technology. If you take a look in his bag, the first thing you would see is a mass of cables; one for his chromebook and the others for the rest of his technology. Then, if you dared to dig past those, you’d find some airpods, wire earplugs, headphones, his phone, then a second phone. “ Sometimes I carry an Iphone 2G too,” said Nehemias. He really enjoys listening to music; he won’t let a dead phone or dead airpods stop him from indulging in his favorite pastime.
In Elliot Wilson’s bag we find a crochet frog because, as Elliot said, “ I just like frogs.” But after digging deeper, you’d find a somewhat ordinary item, but not for an ordinary use. The six inch ruler Elliot carries with him each day plays a very significant role in his artistic journey. Elliot doodles constantly. He uses this ruler to get the really precise measurements he yearns to see within his art. Elliot loves to see a straight line drawn so perfectly down his page.
Books upon books of classical literature can be found in Bella Howell’s backpack. Right now her book supply consists of Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities. Bella said, “ It’s rare when I read them, but they are there for me when I’m bored and want to feel and appear smart.” Growing up, Bella read several fantasy novels but as she aged, she felt as though the books were not educating her in the way other books would so she made the switch to classical literature.
Mrs. Mowery’s psychology class does a project each year where they construct something using just the context of their backpacks. Mrs. Mowery said, “ It’s always interesting to see just what all they carry in their bags,”
What is something in your own bag that represents a large part of you as a person?
