Painful memories of Val’s Day
Too bad students can’t take a school day anymore to scrawl their name across a Michael Jordan valentine that says, “You’re cool,” and give it to their crush.
Truly, the good days have past.
Remembering how Valentine’s Day was spent as 8-year-olds may be fond for some USU students, but for Armen Armaghanyan, he just remembers the pain.
“When I was in fourth grade, I got a greeting card and some flowers for this girl and gave them to her,” the undeclared freshman said. “She said, ‘My brother will kill me,’ and threw them at me in front of the whole class.”
Some holidays and traditions from the elementary school era have faded as students leave behind the world of homemade valentines and boxes. But everyone seems to remember making them.
Melissa Anderson, junior in nursing, said the box she made in fourth grade was covered in tin foil and took hours to complete. She folded red strips of paper back to back, like an accordion, and glued them to the box so they flung themselves forward. A red heart was glued to the end of the folded paper strips, she said, and then she decorated her box with various heart cutouts. But what she really wanted the box to do was catch the attention of her two crushes from her class.
“I knew the box would get their attention and they would say, ‘You know, that’s a damn cool box,” Anderson said.
Neither boy ended up dropping a valentine in her cool box, and Anderson said it was a bit rough.
“I had a couple of heartbreaks, and my mom was the only person who said my box was the coolest, so I didn’t get the recognition for my box that I knew I should have had,” she said.
Tai Wesley, sophomore in exercise science, said he remember making his Valentine’s box out of a cereal box. However, his most memorable Valentine’s celebration was in high school.
“We had a Valentine’s Day dance, and afterwards we went swimming in a heated pool with steam coming up out of it as snowflakes started to fall down,” Wesley. “It was pretty cool.”
Most of the time, the day of love was an enjoyable time for kids, though not for everyone. Some remember hearts being broken or the child’s version of unrequited love. Or worse yet, simply being left out and forgotten in the card-giving ceremony.
Caleb Dart, who works at The Marketplace in the Taggart Student Center, said each Valentine’s Day brought the same thing for him.
“Every Valentine’s Day was an adventure for me. There was a new girl every year from first grade up until I was a freshman when I realized women were hopeless unless I was going to marry them.”
Jessica Smith, undeclared freshman, said, “Planning this year’s Valentine’s dance has made me realize that this day of Valentine’s was intended for the stress-free life of elementary school children. How wonderful and carefree were those days of decorating a dilapidated old shoe box and transforming it into a Disney princess masterpiece and stuffing it to the brim.”
For the most part, those who experienced the classroom tradition of handing out cards and making creative boxes have pleasant memories.
Jaymi Olsen, freshman in maritime/underwater archeology, said she thinks it’s important for a kid to experience Valentine’s Day the old-fashioned way.
“I think it is a good experience for little kids as they grow up to romanticize about things from Santa Claus to the Easter bunny to the tooth fairy,” Olsen said. “Valentine’s Day is another one of those foundational events in every child’s life.”
brittny.jo@aggiemail.usu.edu, jess.allen@aggiemail.usu.edu