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Sydney Slusher

The bag Shannon brings to work everyday.

The print room at Stillwater Area High School is not an ordinary print room.  Shannon VerDuin works in the print room and her love for Hello Kitty makes it way more interesting than any other print room.

“Hello Kitty’s been around since I was a little girl, it just wasn’t as easy for me to access merchandise then since she is a Japanese character and now because it’s very mainstream you can find it anywhere, so it’s been years,” VerDuin said.

Hello Kitty is a very well known character. With well known characters or people come a lot of opinions on that topic.

“I think that her love for Hello Kitty is actually really cute, everyone has a love something that deeply yet some are afraid to admit it, and she not only admits it but shows it with pride,” junior Emily McAlister said.

Some people may think it’s weird for VerDuin to love a fictional character aimed for little kids. When people walk into the print room they can tell that it is just her personality.

“In my personal opinion I think it keeps things fun at school. Everyone kind of has something they collect, I collect hats even though I don’t bring all 180 of them to school, but I have them. But I think it keeps things light and happy,” Assistant Principal Bill Howlett said.

Initially seeing all of the Hello Kitty items take people by surprise. But once people get to know VerDuin a little bit it all makes sense and fits right in with her personality.

“All the Hello Kitty stuff took me by surprise, I was actually kind of scared at first I thought I had walked into the wrong room, but once I realized it was the right room it was actually kind of cute,” McAlister said.

VerDuin’s love for a Hello Kitty can say a lot about the type of person she is. She’s just overall a happy, light person who’s fun to be around.

“To me it says she’s fun! It just helps keep this place happy and light I don’t think it says anything weird because I know Shannon. She’s super caring and she has a big heart. She was one of the first people to bring me food when I first found out I was sick I think she has the biggest heart in the whole wide world. I absolutely love her, so if Hello Kitty is the thing she likes so what?” Howlett said.

The things people like says a lot about their personality. VerDuins love for Hello Kitty shows that she’s still young at heart.

“I think it says that she doesn’t care what other people think about her and what she’s passionate about. She’s still a kid at heart and it makes things more fun,” said McAlister.

There are a lot of things that VerDuin loves about Hello Kitty. It is not just about how cute or adorable she really is.

“I like the fact that somebody always comes down here and points out the fact that there’s no mouth on it, but I like to think it’s because she’s mischievous, you don’t really know what her expression really is. Even though it’s Hello Kitty it’s supposed to be a person and a lot of people don’t know that so they say it’s just a cat, but technically no it’s supposed to be a person. So she could be sticking her  tongue out at you, you don’t really know what her thoughts or expression is,” said VerDuin.

VerDuin has a lot of Hello Kitty merchandise all over the print room, and her car. The shelves are packed full of Hello Kitty.

“My favorite thing I own has to be my Hello Kitty microwave, I don’t buy much for myself so when my mom and mother-in-law gave me money for my birthday and told me to buy something that I would use I thought of this. Things also tend to disappear from here so I took a pole of how many people would use this and a lot said they wouldn’t so I bought it! I also bought a Hello Kitty decal sticker to put on my car, my husband didn’t want a pink one so I gut a different color so now every where I go everyone knows that I love Hello Kitty,” VerDuin said.

A lot of people tend to think Hello Kitty is for young girls. But everyone can love her no matter what age.

“I first heard about Hello Kitty when I was 5, I’m 45 now and I’ve loved her ever since I found out about her,” VerDuin said.

Theres a lot of mixed opinions on Hello Kitty. Some people think she’s adorable and others do not.

“Personally I think Hello Kitty is too cute, I was obsessed with her when I was little and I still own Hello Kitty blankets,” said McAlister.

“I think it’s fun for those who like it just like anything else, I’m a GMC fan so I like GMC. It’s just whatever people like I don’t really have an opinion,” said Howlett.

Overall VerDuins love for Hello Kitty brings a lot of light and happiness to the school, not all schools can say they have someone as full of personality and happiness as VerDuin.

“I think her love for Hello Kitty says that she doesn’t care what people think of something she loves so much. She’s still a kid at heart and she’s showing that by displaying it at her place of work,” McAlister said.