By Danny Lobsenz ‘25
Have you ever wondered what teachers carry around with them at school? You’ve found the answer. In this issue of “What’s in Their Bag,” we find out what is in Ms. Shields’ bag.
Ms. Shields is a science teacher who teaches Chemistry and Forensics, and she is also the head coach for winter and spring track.
In her bag, she has papers to grade, a laptop, and her iPad. She also has her pink pencil case, which holds her Apple pencil, pencils, and special pink pens that say “Ms. Shields” on them and are, according to her, “the best pens ever.”
She also has socks, hand sanitizer, and a grand total of three chapsticks and five lip glosses.
Her bag also contains airpods, tea, her glasses, her glasses cleaner, and a whistle for track. She also has a lanyard that has a hand sanitizer on it, her ID, her keys to the school (or as she refers to them, “the keys to the city,”) and her St. Andrew’s-ified key chain. She carries a mini laminated schedule, her wallet, cash, Orbit gum, her personal hygiene bag, a Lululemon belt bag that has an alarm in case “an emergency happens,” and hair ties.
According to Ms. Shields, she sees herself as well-prepared for “anything that comes my way.” She says she carries the tea bags because “sometimes it is really cold in here in the morning and I don’t want to have coffee, so I have tea instead … It gives me a little bit of my caffeine and it is healthier.”
If she could only keep three items, she says that the first item would be “the personal hygiene bag because that has deodorant, masks, and toilet seat covers. It has Cottonelle wipes. It has everything that I would need in case I got stranded somewhere and I don’t have a shower.”
She says the second would be “my wallet because that has my ID, my cards, but if it’s a real emergency I’m going to use my mom’s credit card.”
She says the third item would be her “lip gloss because you can’t go with chapped lips, especially in the wintertime.”
Her favorite item is her “Fenty Beauty by Rihanna lip gloss.”
Ms. Shields says that the key chain is sentimental because “it has a pencil hand sanitizer holder, so it reflects that I am a teacher … and the hand sanitizer my mom got me from Bath and Body Works.”
She also notes that the pens that are marked “Ms. Shields” on them are special because “my mom got me these pens. They are pink. They write really well. They have the iPad [stylus] at the top. They have ‘Science Department’ on it and ‘Chemistry and Forensic Science Teacher’ on it.”
Overall, Ms. Shields has a solid assortment of items in her bag that seem to leave her well-equipped for any tasks or challenges during the day. Who do you want to see next on “What’s in Their Bag?”