Why do you wear them?

It’s 5 a.m. when Junior Nick Tubolino wakes up to the screaming of his alarm. He rolls out of bed taking the blankets and sheets with him to the floor, wearing just his boxers and yellow rubber bracelet hanging loosely around his wrist.

Often times he forgets he’s even wearing it, he said.

This is the same Live Strong bracelet thousands of people wear in support of the fight against cancer.

But while many wear the bracelets for personal reasons to support loved ones with cancer, a lot of people say they wear them because they are fashionable. Seven out of the nine students interviewed said they wore the bracelet either because it “looked cool” or because they saw it as an “accessory.”

 “Outside the reason for supporting a good cause, I guess because it’s something to wear and everyone else wears them,” said Nick Neugebauer, of the bracelet on his wrist.

Some students said they think people wear the bracelets because of the impact idols and professional athletes have on merchandise and materialistic things.

“People mimic what pros and famous people do. If people see Tiger Woods wearing Nike, they’ll want to wear Nike too,” said Ben Roberts of the Castleton men’s hockey team.

Trends, they say, have had a huge impact on what people wear, because of our notion of fitting in and what is socially “cool.” The Live Strong bracelets are a prime example.

“If everyone’s doing it, why don’t I?” said student Tyler Hartley.

                Another accessory trend is the I (heart) boobies bracelets. It serves the same purpose,raising awareness and money for breast cancer. But while serving that goal, the bracelet also became a sort of joke to some people wearing it.

“People didn’t understand the meaning of it … thought it was funny,” Hartley said.

                Some students believe trending fashion fads have taken our society on a turn for the worse. They say society has put too much time and energy into things that aren’t right.

“For the most part I think that society as a whole in America has placed a lot of its focus on fashion and luxuries,” said Tubolino.

But not all wear these bracelets for fashion.

Junior Nick Bent wears his was because it was a gift to him from a mentor when he was a freshman in high school. He claimed it was “Something of meaning.”

Right before it broke, Amber Guyette, resident advisor of Ellis Hall, took her Live Strong bracelet off.  She wore it for a long time in memory of her grandmother who had passed away of cancer.

 That’s what students like Tubolino believe is and should be the true meaning behind the bracelets.

“I think that when people look at their live strong bracelets, the first thing that should come to mind is the significant meaning behind it rather than how they look wearing it,” said Tubolino.

 

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