Along the human journey of life, people accumulate things. Things that mean something to them, things that are useful, things that people need, and sometimes things just to have things. Junior Hannah Kos, a beloved Central Trend member, has compiled a rather hefty collection of socks in the course of her lifetime.

“I used to hate socks when I was little,” Hannah said. “Then, in 7th grade, I got this wart on my foot, and I thought it was the most embarrassing thing in the entire world. After that, I refused to not wear socks. I got used to wearing them, and I guess it stuck. I haven’t told anyone that.”

While she had this foot issue, she always wore socks. But she loved wearing sandals as well during the summer, and thus started her socks and sandals habit.

This was before people started wearing socks and sandals as a trend, so she was slightly ostracized for her decisions, but this didn’t matter to Hannah.

“Everyone thought I was super weird when I started wearing them,” Hannah said, “and then they thought I was even weirder for wearing socks with them. This was before it was the cool thing to do – I just embraced it. I started with regular socks and then decided to take it one step further, and soon I was wearing socks with pictures of beaches on them on my feet with my sandals.”

Her collection was not intentional. Hannah never truly decided to collect socks, she just accumulated so many over the years, and she transitioned from not wearing socks at all to wearing them all the time.

Hannah has amassed a significant amount of patterned socks, both calf and ankle. Her favorites are the most unique of the bunch. Of Hannah’s ankle socks, she loves her pair that, when she puts her feet together, creates a zebra face. She also enjoys her ankle socks with oars on them to accentuate her love of rowing. Her favorite calf socks have plants on them with puns accompanying each one.

Hannah’s special collection has touched every social aspect of her life. Her friends, family, and even strangers know about her wacky socks and look forward to a different pair every day.

While most people receive money in their holiday cards from relatives or friends, she opens her cards to find a pair of crazy, patterned socks. Her stockings are always filled to the brim with socks; she even gets socks for her birthday. But unlike most kids who get socks for presents, she truly appreciates it.

Hannah loves her socks so much that she typically only wears just that, no shoes, notices friend and fellow TCT member, junior Emma Beck.

“She wears [her socks] with Birkenstocks a lot or Hunter boots, but she ends up only wearing just the socks,” Emma said. “Most of the time you will see her without shoes, I think she’s more comfortable in just her socks.”

Why wouldn’t she be? Hannah’s socks are her greatest form of expression.

Each of her friends associates her collection with her personality, extraordinary and abnormal. Sophomore Krystal Koski is always excited to see which pair her friend has worn that day.

“When I walk into Hannah’s room, I see piles of clothes–a majority of which are socks,” Krystal said. “None of them are white; all of them are fun, patterned, and even mismatched. I think it’s a phenomenal representation of her as a person. She cannot simply be normal, so she expresses herself in a unique way: through her socks.”

Having approximately 200 pairs and counting, Hannah has a rough weekly increase of one or two pairs, and a significant amount once the holidays roll around.

“I had to find a reason to like them,” Hannah said, “and now I’m obsessed.”