By Miranda Bramson

At Briarcliff, bragging about your car can be cool and extremely easy with the help of a lanyard.

This rising trend allows students to show off their driving status and thus their upperclassman rank and freedom with a simple, long cord designed to go around the neck. However, you won’t find many people walking around with a jangling necklace full of keys. The art of the lanyard is much more subtle. With just a peek of the classic blue and orange Briarcliff lanyard inside a school bag or a favorite sports team lanyard falling out of a pocket, everyone walking by knows that you are old enough to drive and have autonomy that is still unknown to the majority of underclassman.

The style, size, and design of this trademark driving symbol can say a lot about a person’s personality. “If someone has the Briarcliff lanyard, that probably means that they either like to support our school spirit or they are too lazy to find an original style. People with other lanyards are either supporting a sports team, trying to be funny, or just use them for convenience,” said junior Rachel Strauss. Rachel got her license in September, but she says, “It took forever for me to get a lanyard.”

The use of the lanyard doesn’t stop at style and bragging rights because it can also provide entertainment. They have become the new “lifeguard whistles” in that almost everyone twirls their lanyards around their pointer fingers. This not only provides a relief from boredom while walking through the halls alone, but it further solidifies the cool factor. Lanyards are a trend that will probably be sticking around for a while, because ultimately, “we all just love them,” says junior Vanessa Tane.