Child backpacks for seniors which was once a joke has become a tradition. Allowing students in their last year of high school to carry an item that holds nostalgic memories.
By: Mariangela Murillo
As you’re walking through the Ranger halls you may see many kids with children’s backpacks. These types of backpacks are really common to see.
Each design on them seems to reflect something of that person. As a popular tradition within the senior class, they all have some sort of meaning.
According to parents.com, “It might be a way for high schoolers to express a desire to hold onto their youth and resist the pressures and responsibilities that come with adulthood.”
The backpacks are more than just a simple thing, students are able to express the type of childhood they had and what they grew up with. Not only do the bags show off their childhood they also help students create a sense of identity, while still having a playful aspect of the backpacks.
Most students can use this as comfort because it brings back their happy memories as they pass through their last year of high school.
The tradition of seniors wearing kid backpacks started in the late 2000’s, and it all started because of a simple inside joke.
Photo M.Murillo/Gigantea
What was once a joke is now a tradition and many seniors wear these types of backpacks as a form of expressing the life they lived as a kid or something meaningful that stuck with them.
Many people can be seen wearing certain Disney characters like Elsa, Mickey Mouse, Shrek, Lightning Mcqueen, Spiderman, or other recognizable characters.
Characters represent something nostalgic, and to them it is a great way to remember the memories they had as a kid.
This tradition gives seniors a way to look back and remember their childhood as they leave high school behind.
Celeste Urtez, ‘27 wears Disney princesses on her backpack. She said the reason behind her decision was because, “I grew up watching princesses when I was little.”
Her choice of her backpack is able to reflect something that made up her childhood. It is a way of representing them.
For Celina Villagomez, ‘27, her senior backpacks means more than a bag, she said, “I mean it’s like being a kid again.”
Photo M.Murillo/Gigantea
As a kid there are great memories that are formed and having a reminded can make you feel like you are back to when you were 5 years old watching your favorite show while stuffing your face with candy.
Andres Nino, ‘27 takes pride in his backpack and said, “It represents what you grew up on and what you are proud to show.”
Photo M.Murillo/Gigantea
Whenever someone has really good memories of something they are based on or grew up with they wont be ashamed to show it off, instead they are happy to put it out there as something that represents them.
Alina Ramirez, ‘27, said, “I feel like it takes me back in time to when things were simpler and it makes me feel happy.”
When high school gets rough, the backpacks can serve as a reminder of all your happy memories. You are able to look back at those happy memories and find comfort in them.
Leslie Nunez, ‘27, said, “I think it’s a really sweet and sentimental memory to have.”
Photo M.Murillo/Gigantea
The backpacks though can look childish. They have a significant meaning in which happy memories were created.
Happy memories are the memories that stick with you the most, while everything is moving forward, a kids backpack can bring you back.
The designs of what the backpacks have on them reflects what their early stages of life were based on. Even though lots of years have passed, with senior backpacks, the memories remain.
As seniors move on towards a new chapter of life as an adult they get to cherish their last year of high school with the great memories they lived growing up.
Mariangela Murillo
Mariangela Murillo, '30 is a sports writer who is interested in writing about sports and the things they don't usually talk about, like their challenges and goals they had throughout the season.
Tags: backpacks, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, rhs, senior, senior backpacks, visalia ca
