by Lexi Rosas | Editor-In-Chief

Folders, sparkling, sporting the face of your favorite pop star, or the face of the world’s cutest puppy, and not be be purchased without a coordinating spiral, composition book and three-ring binder.

Remember these days? The days when school supplies were meant to represent who we are and who we wanted to be. This act was made into an event. Does the evolution of our way of shopping for school supplies represent who we have become as we have left elementary and middle school behind for the almighty high school? A place where school supply shopping transforms into a day to dread; Where loading up on supplies represents the end of freedom and the beginning of 9 months of restraint.

As a senior in high school, my years of school supply shopping has gone something like this:

Freshman Year: I purchased my spirals and folders at target, a place that, for me, wasn’t too flashy, but also ensured that I would go back to school with nothing but the finest, classiest colors. My pencil pouch on the other hand was more of a battle. I searched high and low and ended up paying too much for a Vera Bradley make up bag.

Sophomore Year: I went school supply shopping at HEB and only bought Mead notebooks and HEB folders. I found an old pencil pouch and never looked back.

Junior Year: On the eve of the first day of the start of school I rushed to walgreens to pick up the few supplies that I couldn’t reuse from previous years.

Senior Year: After the second day of school I swung by target to grab a handful of notebooks, folders and pencils. And that pencil pouch from my sophomore year is still going strong.

If our ways of preparing for school are representative of who we are as we have grown, then what does it mean? Some believe that it’s simple neglect, laziness even, but maybe it’s just a symbol of maturity as we prepare to enter into college and the real world.