by Shiloh Moreno |

Many teenagers like to express who they are by the way they dress or how they style their hair. Since students are now required to wear lanyards, they are starting to make them their own. From buying lanyards to designing their own, students are using creative expression, even in a new situation.

“The reason why we ask students to have those [I.D. cards] on lanyards is for quick identification,” Dr. April Adams said.

I.D. cards are used for safety, to speed up the lunch process, and to check out library books. There are many students constantly coming in and out of the school such as those in the A+ tutoring program, students traveling to and from Liberty North High School or the Educational Internship Program (EIP). Adults want to see student’s identification quickly and know where the students are coming from.

If students are found with no I.D., there will be consequences. Punishments include going to ISS until the student wears it, purchasing a new I.D. card for 10 dollars, or be sent home to get the I.D. with an unexcused absence. Students’ lanyards are to be worn around their neck with no exceptions.

“With all this movement it’s just smarter to have the ability to identify yourselves as LHS students,” Dr. Adams said.

As students are not happy with wearing lanyards, they have thought of different ways to make it more enjoyable to wear. Most students did not like the boring blue lanyard they were given at the beginning of the year.

“Everyone had the same lanyards and plus it did not look very well with any outfits,” senior Jessica Cato said.

The blue lanyards did not seem to fit with some of the students, it was too generic for them.

“Blue lanyards didn’t fit my personality. I felt like I should express who I was with my lanyard,” sophomore Lydia Davis said.

Several students changed their dull lanyards because they enjoy being different and standing out from the crowd.

“The old ones are boring and I wanted to express myself,” junior Amanda Johnson said.

Many students have thought of creative ways to make their lanyard stand out and be different.

“I made it out of different beads and I put a big bird bead over the lanyard clip,” Cato said.

Some students just bought something and added to it to make it into a lanyard.

“I bought a lanyard and added different pins to it and also put stickers on the back of my card,” Davis said.

Numerous students went the simple way and bought something then just added the I.D. card.

“I bought a big necklace with a turtle on it and put my card on it,” Johnson said.

Some students were influenced by other students’ unique lanyards and so they changed theirs. Others, like junior Emily Stockwell, got their idea from a hobby.

“Well I make a lot of friendship bracelets so I just thought of why not make a lanyard out of macramé,” Stockwell said.