What's in your backpack?
In a random – and highly unscientific – survey of Whitman students, we found that “essential” covers a lot of ground when it comes to backpack contents. Many students listed highlighters, USB keys, snacks, lip balm and gum, text books from Calc III to Livy’s “History of Rome,” laptops and mechanical pencils. Did we mention lip balm and gum? You get the idea. A few of their essentials are pictured here.
“Essentials” not pictured:
- Hershey’s Kiss wrappers: “Mint fudge truffle center ones – yum!”
- Wallet: “Complete with checks that I need to deposit, rarely any cash, Harper Joy punch card, Sweet Basil Pizza slice punch card ...”
- Apple or orange: “From Prentiss Dining Hall.”
- Pins on my backpack: “An owl for Kappa Kappa Gamma, a Firenze pin for studying abroad in Florence, Italy.”
- Letter: “From my 7-year-old penpal.”
- Blue hairbrush and mirror: “For life’s vanity emergencies.”
- 120 loose pages of class materials I haven’t filed away yet: “You can roughly estimate the age based on the degree of crumpling.”
- Homeopathic remedy kit: “Semi-essential according to mom.”