Senior Yosselyn Martinez has collected everything she can from her years at South Lakes, including bib numbers from track meets, ticket stubs, pictures, letters, and tee shirts. 

“I had a hard time in eighth grade,” said Martinez. “So when freshman year started it was like a fresh start and I wanted to remember all of it.”

Some of Martinez’s most prized possessions are her track bib numbers. The numbers serve as a person’s identification during a track meet and are displayed on the person’s front and back throughout the race.

Martinez’s collection of school newspapers also holds a great importance to her. The copies of the South Lakes Sentinel are a particular achievement for her because she has collected nearly every issue that was published during her years at South Lakes.

“Unfortunately I was not able to collect issues from freshman year, because I never got any,” said Martinez.

While Martinez is proud of her collection, some people are skeptical.

 “People think I am crazy collecting all the newspapers,” said Martinez. “They think it is just going to be trash. They kind of think the bib numbers are cool but they really like the scrapbook.”

Martinez owns a scrapbook where she keeps the majority of her collection. The book started as a diary that Martinez has kept since 2003. Over time, it evolved into a scrapbook. Her reason for collecting these items is to have something to show her kids when she is older what she accomplished during her high school years.

“I know a lot of people say that they keep their memories in their minds, but as you get oldermemories start to fade,” said Martinez.

Martinez hopes to continue collecting.

“I think that throughout my years I’ll collect stuff from everyday and big events,” said Martinez. “When people make fun of me and how I collect everything, I remind them of how I’ll be remembering everything and they won’t remember half of the stuff they’ve done.”