Junior Asa Esparza collects pins and patches for her jean jacket

“I have 46 pins and four patches on my jacket. I’ve been collecting them since middle school. Most of my pins have some meaning, whether it be that it reminded me of something, it was a gift, helped me express myself or just made me smile. My ‘Girl Power’ pin was a gift from my Girl Scout troop when they saw me in the fall musical ‘The Music Man’ which meant a lot because it showed me how much they supported me. My New York taxi pin reminds me of my trip to New York in 2019. My Lisa Simpson pin was one I bought at a small shop in Wichita the day before our improv team won state, so it reminds me of that triumph. I connect a lot of memories to these pins and track my growth through the years with them. I usually buy them, but the ones that mean the most to me are usually the ones that were gifts or my lettering pins. I received a pin as a gift from a relative and didn’t have anywhere to put it so I bought a jean jacket specifically for the pins but I thought one side had too many pins so I bought more and it still looked uneven so I continued to buy them until I eventually had a collection and people just started giving them to me as gifts for my jacket. The pins and patches really show people who I am. I get a lot of comments and compliments on the jacket and now it’s become my favorite way to make new friends.”