Tuesday, April 12 was “anything but a backpack day” at Naperville Central. Flyers in school and on social media spread the word for students to bring anything but a backpack to school “just for fun,” said senior Natallie Duffin, who brought a suitcase to school.

What is anything but a backpack day? 

“I first saw it on TikTok,” Duffin said. “It was a trend where just for fun where you bring anything but your backpack to school that day. I saw a lot of different ideas that were insane but then someone posted it at Central and was like, ‘let’s do it.’”

What did you bring a suitcase? 

“A suitcase [is] not that original but I thought I’m bringing a laundry basket, but I just didn’t want to bring it all the way up the stairs to the third floor,” Duffin said. “So, I brought a suitcase. I saw someone that was riding a scooter, someone brought a football helmet, someone brought a very big cooler, somebody brought one of those circle grills.

Why did you decide to do it? 

“I thought It was funny,” Duffin said. “It’s obviously senior year so not that I thought people would get in trouble for it, but I was kind of nervous, it made me feel I was [going to] get in trouble for it, but the teachers actually loved it. So I was like, honestly, why not? I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Karah McCarl brought a tiny chair and stacked her school supplies on top.

“I thought it would be fun. I thought why not? A few of my friends were doing it and we were trying to see who could have the most fun ideas,” McCarl said.

What did you see others bring?

“One of my friends brought a giant Lego brick, a trashcan big enough that he could fit inside of it, and then my other friend also brought a tiny chair. We were matching,” McCarl said.

Did you like participating in “anything but a backpack” day? 

“I did. I wish more people did it because it was really fun,” McCarl said.