Students across Air Academy High School don various jewelry, from necklaces to earrings to headbands. However, searching from head to toe, one of the most common places to find jewelry isn’t around the neck or under an ear. It’s around the wrist.

Bracelets litter the left and right wrists of students and teachers within Air Academy. The bracelets vary from rubber to wood, straps to beads, fancy to casual. Wristwear at Air Academy seems to be just as unique as the students and teachers who display it. 

Every age and grade is caught within the trend, from freshmen to past alumni, and the biggest question to answer is: why?

“I mainly wear [bracelets] to accessorize,” freshman Skyler Staats-Kinser said.

Staats-Kinser varies her wrist wear from teething bracelets to rainbow scrunchies. She will change the bracelets for the sake of whatever she is wearing, from color coding to formality, matching certain clothes and complimenting others. For Staats-Kinser, her bracelets are a fun way to dress and stylize. 

For other students, bracelets say much more about who they are. They can represent the memories, ideals, or personalities of their owners.

Senior Jennifer Taylor, who wears a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelet, said, “It’s a reminder for me and sometimes I need that.” While many of her other bracelets have significant meaning, the WWJD one is her favorite.

“I got it from one of my friends,” she elaborated.

For many students, they received their WWJD bracelets from YoungLife Camp, a Christian outreach program for teens. Students agree with Taylor that the wristwear stands as a reminder for their faith.

For others, bracelets are a balance between important meanings and simple fashionable statements.

Art teacher Lisa Preeshl says, “Most don’t have significance, I have a couple that were given to me… one that my mom gave me that’s a diamond bracelet.”

She doesn’t have any particular pattern for how she wears bracelets. For Preeshl, it’s a way to have fun.

Preeshl says, “I change it up a lot, very wide bracelets, some that jingle, sometimes just a watch.” 

Preeshl, for the most part, wears her bracelets for fashion. She says she’ll always change it up and wear different kinds of bracelets. Like many wearers, Preeshl wears a variety of bracelets at the same time. Some match and some stand out all in the name of fashion.

One bracelet just rarely seems to do it for students. Many wear bracelets on both arms and can carry up to a dozen. The layers of string and rubber become strands of one long bracelet climbing up their arms. Maybe it’s intentional, as the wristwear all seem connected when bunched together so well.

The difference and variation is evident. The bracelets we wear can say something about who we are and some simply serve to display. Just like our students though, there’s a little bit of everything.