Brooke Skiba
The iconic Wooster lanyard. We all receive one freshman year, and we all are guilty of hole-punching our COW cards and wearing the social stigma for at least a short time at the start of our college career. But does anyone ever question why we stopped?
Once this question entered my mind, I was certain it would not cease to pester me until I figured out the answer for myself. So I dug out my lanyard and began to wear it with my COW card around my neck. I coincidentally nearly always had on a scarf or jacket that covered the lanyard, so I did not have to deal with any major social repercussions of this experiment. But what I did find to be true astounded me: wearing the lanyard is infinitely more useful than carrying my card in my pocket — like I had been for the past three years.
For one thing, I no longer had to worry about keeping track of my card. I did not have to search under and around every object in my room looking for where I may have misplaced it earlier that day or before a nap (we all know naps can cause powerful momentary amnesia). I not once had to deal with unknowingly dropping it somewhere and either getting an email about the found card or, worse, paying the $10 fee for a new one. (I may or may not be on at least my 10th COW card).
Even better than not losing my card, I also found incredible usefulness in the lanyard during the times when I did not have pockets: i.e. when I wore sweat pants, went out at night or ran. There is no better feeling than not having your COW card in your sweaty palm when you know you still have miles to run. And for weekends that get a little fuzzy, it’s good to know that your card will be safely around your neck all night. In fact, the only issue I found with wearing the lanyard was that it had to be removed in order to swipe at the C-Store or Lowry; beyond that, I see no logical reason for people to ever stop wearing it (besides while in the shower, of course).
It seems that people, regardless of their personal style, refuse to wear the lanyard for the same reason that people avoid the fanny pack — it’s strikingly unfashionable and has developed the stereotype that it can only be worn by a first-semester first-year. It’s so unfortunate that we allow style to make us impractical — but all hope is not lost. Even the zipper was once hard for people to accept into their everyday attire. Many inventors of the zipper failed to convince the public to utilize the tool until the magazine and fashion industry made the zipper popular. Hopefully this article can serve as a first step in moving people toward acceptance of the lanyard. I say that we all hurry past our period of resistance and wear our COW cards proudly on our lanyards, around our necks, close to our hearts.