Junior Gabriella Hantla expresses herself with water bottle stickers

Junior Gabriella Hantla expressed herself with stickers before it was cool. While some students have just begun using stickers this year with their MacBooks, Hantla started customizing her water bottle during her freshman year in 2016. 

Hantla, whose two favorite stickers read “Abolish ICE” and “Feel the Bern,” sees her stickers as a type of peaceful protest.

“[Putting stickers that represent my beliefs on my water bottle is] kind of like a soft form of activism,” Hantla said. “It’s a conversation starter.”

Hantla doesn’t see her stickers as attacks on students who dislike what they represent; instead, she hopes that students who disagree with her stickers will take the chance to have their views challenged in stride. 

“[Students who disagree with my stickers] might be a little offended,” Hantla said. “[However,] they could also think about everything and be like, ‘Oh, I never thought about that.’”

Hantla has picked up a few tricks in her three years of sticker collecting. She avoids buying stickers from large companies like Amazon, instead sticking mostly to Redbubble, a website where shoppers like Hantla can buy sticker art created by other users. 

Hantla has attempted to find more opportunities to express herself as well. 

“At first, I wanted a [Feel the Bern] T-shirt,” Hantla said. “I had to settle for this [sticker].”

However small her stickers may be, they make Hantla feel good about herself. 

“This [little form of activism], it’s really nice,” Hantla said.