By: Mikayla Ho, Staff Writer
On any given day at Mills, the campus is packed with an assortment of bags, each displaying the personalities of many students. Let’s check out what students carry to school!
Suri Rastani (9) can be seen with her black Jansport backpack marked with signatures from her friends and classmates. To start, she owns two keychains that were from the Art & Wine festival: one from the movie, The Shining and another from the animated series, Invader Zim. Inside her backpack, Rastani carries a bag filled with touch-up stuff, a garage opener, a power bank, a pouch with lip products, an Altoids tin holding earbuds, a wallet, a water bottle covered with band stickers, her lunch, a chromebook covered in stickers from Brandy Melville, a black pencil case, a binder with band stickers in the front. The items she carries for classes include an English notebook, a Spanish notebook, a “Romeo and Juliet” book, and an “Animal Farm” book. Besides her backpack being covered with markings, Rastani owns plenty of colorful pins that reflect her love for music and the ‘90s era. Her pins come from a variety of places such as Hot Topic, the Art & Wine Festival, Brandy Melville, Amazon, and a candy store in San Francisco. Rastani’s favorite pin would be her Slushy Noobz pin.
Instead of bringing a typical backpack to school, Madelyn Galura (9) chooses a canvas tote bag as she says, “It helps my back problems.” Galura carries necessities such as a pencil case, three folders for six classes, an Owala water bottle, and a separate pocket which carries her chromebook. Something unique about Galura’s bag are her two Smiskis: one zipper bite for her tote and a hipper attached to her chromebook.
Like Galura, Bianca Santos (12) also carries a tote bag around school. Santos sports a stylish black leather bag filled with vibrant artistic artwork, with the centerpiece featuring a red heart with intricate details. “I thrifted it from a flea market on Treasure Island,” says Santos. Besides her school work, Santos carries a patterned pouch with her chargers, a pair of sunglasses from her grandmother, some candy, an old gum container holding band-aids and floss, a pencil case, a scarf, a portable charger, a camera, a scrunchie, a deck of cards, new headphones, keys, a pouch with lip products, a tiny pair of scissors. Necessities she carries includes hand lotion, tylenol, more floss, tide stick, tissues, deodorant, a Sanrio compact mirror, and a wallet. “My favorite part is that it says ‘Live, Laugh, Love,” Santos comments regarding her bag’s exterior.
For me, I carry a black High Sierra backpack that used to belong to my dad. I don’t have many decorations aside from my alien keychain from Toy Story. Inside my backpack I carry my lilac Hydro Flask, a binder, a folder, my chromebook, my Toy Story alien pencil bag that can be flipped into Lotso, a Trader Joe’s hand sanitizer, a pack of gum, a My Melody compact mirror, a lotion freebie from a hotel, and a mini Lysol spray bottle.
In exploring the diverse bags at Mills, it is clear that each bag is more than just a tool to carry school supplies. They reflect individual styles and priorities. This small glimpse into their lives show how students express themselves in everyday choices, reminding us that even the simplest things tell deep stories.
