Backpacks are a sacred place where important textbooks and homework are placed, but some students at Seward County Community College have some unusual necessities in them. With these items come horror stories that show having a backpack may cause more trouble than it actually helps.

Many students at SCCC face the struggle of their necessities causing a problem; depending on the type of “necessity” they have, things can get pretty messy.

“Okay this is going to sound gross but there was this one time I had a bottle of lotion in my bag that exploded and got over EVERYTHING,” Edith Rubio, a business management major, said.

Although her books were covered in lotion, she couldn’t exactly find the motivation to clean it off. “I kept it there for like a month” Rubio embarrassingly said.

She also mentioned that she had seen much worse. “I think I remember a girl finding a month old burrito she had forgotten about in her backpack,” Rubio said.

One student in particular knows the struggle of cleaning up an absolute disgusting mess in a backpack.

“Someone actually vomited in my backpack and I wanted to cry because all my [stuff] was ruined and my teachers didn’t believe that vomit was all over my homework,” Keelin Lahita, an English major, said.

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Adriana Flores

Some student's carry around things like deodorant and chargers to help them get through their day.

Other students went with a much safer option. For Alize Hickey, a music major, she chose a fluffy companion.

“I carried my stuffed penguin around,” Hickey said.

She carried it around because she had won it in Spanish class her sophomore year and couldn’t seem to remember to take it out.  Having a fluffy companion in students’ bags seems normal around campus. In fact, some of their furry friends are actually alive and kicking.

“My dog, she jumps in my [backpack] quite frequently.” Emireth Monarrez, a biology major said. Although she never actually takes her to class, her dog is always trying again and again to join her for a walk on campus via her backpack.

For some students, the need to have hot sauce on hand has them keeping Valentina in their bag.

“I carry it because it comes in handy and sometimes my food needs an extra kick!” Jackie Moreno, a general education major, said.

Backpacks are meant to help burden the weight of textbooks and the things we need for our everyday life. Although sometimes what we consider essential actually just causes a mess, causing our backpack to become the actual burden rather than being the one carrying it.