Our culture embraces university wear as the go-to fashion for teens. Walking around San Luis Obispo High School during the school day, it is common to see students sporting college paraphernalia. From Harvard sweatshirts to Cal Poly t-shirts, SLOHS students are clearly embracing a trend.

Yet it is not just seniors who walk around representing their future respective universities. Juniors, sophomores, and even freshman can be spotted wearing college apparel. Are these students simply fans of the university athletic teams, or does this “fashion trend” have a deeper significance? I question if wearing university paraphernalia is something students do in an attempt to create an outward air of intelligence or sophistication and perhaps give teens a measure of self-confidence to help them achieve their academic goals.

“You can be typecasted if you wear skate clothes or polos, but college gear is a good versatile basic for any style,” said senior and future Cal Poly student Eli Kukol. “It’s not so much confidence as it is smugness,” said Kukol

Junior Neha Sikand enjoys wearing Ivy-League brand sweatshirts and UC Berkeley attire.

“It’s cool to wear it and it makes me work harder,” said Sikand when asked her opinion on the topic. “It helps me turn my dreams into goals because I know that it’s not going to be easy to get into prestigious colleges.”

Clearly, sporting university logos has become a seemingly unstoppable trend, but it also gives teenagers the self-esteem they need to pursue their dreams.

“I think that people wear college attire for a specific college they want to attend because it gives them the confidence and drive to pursue that goal,” said sophomore Kannan Freyaldenhoven.