Senior Tyler Dilek has always been captivated by history and the science behind ancient machinery, and his collection of early 19th and 20th centuries Americana allows him to physically own pieces of his interests. He owns a variety of vintage books, computers, phonographs, video game consoles and film reels, all produced before the year 2000. Dilek accumulates Americana for mainly two purposes: to preserve history for succeeding generations and as his own personal hobby.

“They way I view it is, ‘if I don’t, who will?’” Dilek said, in regards to his vast collection.

He describes the Americana as his life’s work, as he spent years fixating and repairing the objects in the assortment.

After receiving a personal stereo from their mom back when she was a teenager, junior Violet Greenstein was inspired to collect more CDs, as they initially had a small variety of records to choose from. The music-lover began purchasing CDs from thrift stores and Ebay because of their good quality, despite being cheaper in price.

They consider Wave by Patti Smith one of their favorite CDs because the album plays “Fredrick,” a special song to Greenstein. To them, music sounds fulfilling when played from their CD stereo and the colorful cover of each record adds to the aesthetic of their room.

“​​I collect this because it feels more real and fun playing CDs than playing music on Spotify and I like the way they look,” Greenstein said.

Following his bedroom makeover, junior Gabriel Nierman finally had the space to add a meaningful collection to him: the Coca-Cola bottles in which his great grandfather largely invested in.

“In his house, you couldn’t walk five feet without seeing a Coke bottle,” Nierman said.

The Coke bottle collection reminds Nierman of his great grandfather who he did not know well, as well as his great grandmother who recently passed away, as both had a collecting spirit.

He obtains the Coke bottles from Mexican coke bottles he previously drank from or from thrift shops. In his Coke bottle collection, Nierman has both old and new bottle styles of the brand

Ever since senior Ethan Leavy was a child, he remembers adding ketchup to almost every meal he ate. His parents, soon recognizing his love for ketchup, began gifting Leavy ketchup related objects, transforming his bedroom shelves into a private Heinz museum.

Leavy collects ketchup memorabilia “for fun,” as he enjoys accumulating objects of a certain subject and organizing them into specific categories.

“Ketchup is what used to define me,” Leavy said. “Even my Bar Mitzvah was ketchup themed.”

Since the second grade, sophomore Emma Schwartz began accumulating the hotel cards from her father’s business trips. She soon expanded her collection to include the cruise cards or gift cards she received over time, as it serves as a remembrance of the memories she fostered with her family and friends on special occasions.

“My collection means memories to me,” Schwartz said. “I have a bunch of cruise cards, and I will be like, ‘Oh, I remember all the stuff from the cruise’ or like a birthday card, and I will remember my birthday party from that year and the gifts I got.”

Sophomore Madison Hamilton always possessed a passion for reading but initially read a few books per year. However, three years ago, sophomore Madison Hamilton returned to her habit of reading after finishing one of her favorite book series–“The Summer I Turned Pretty”–before it was adopted into a show on Amazon Prime.

“Then, everyone started going crazy over all these people, and I’ve been obsessing over them for years by myself,” Hamilton said.

Presently, she has about 60 books in her collection and reads about one book per week. To Hamilton, reading is an escape from the stress of her responsibilities at school.

“When I’m on my phone, I can’t distract myself from stress from school,” Hamilton said. “But when I’m reading, I’m in a whole different world.”

She purchases a majority of her novels from Barnes & Nobles, Amazon and Target and has an additional virtual book collection on her Kindle. Her bookshelf serves as a reminder of what she loves about a particular novel by teleporting her back into the plot of the story.

This story was originally published in the March 2023 Eagle Eye print edition.