Take a look at this backpack from the ‘80s. Do you notice anything?

That’s right. There’s no place to hold a water bottle!

While the ‘80s might have been the first time backpacks were seen in the classroom, the side pockets many students know and love today didn’t come into being until the 2000s.

Even in activities outside of school, as seen in this hiking catalog from 1981, water bottle pockets were an idea of the future. There was no place to hold a water bottle even in a bag designed for outdoor activity.

Most students of the time brought their water with lunch in a disposable plastic bottle or used the water fountain. Reusable water bottles were seen mostly outdoors or for sports.

This information reveals an overarching theme: the current obsession with hydration is new.

 Julie Bielskis, upper school English teacher, remembers a time before water bottles were everywhere.

“I graduated from St. Mary’s in ‘89, so no, [having a water bottle] was just not a thing […] neither was this push for hydration or the recognition of how important hydration is,” she said.

Other teachers who attended high school in the ‘90s and early 2000s recognize the difference as well.

Brandy Brown, upper school French teacher, who graduated in 2003, remembers water being restricted to outside of class..

“I feel like we weren’t even allowed to have food and drink in the rooms,” she said. “I think I kept [water] in my locker.” 

In the ‘90s, when Courtney Gillespie, upper school Biology teacher, was young, she passed out at cheer camp one summer. She spoke what many who grew up in the 90s might be thinking.

“Maybe if I had had a reusable water bottle, and I was properly hydrated, that wouldn’t have happened,” she said.

Now, water bottles are seen everywhere. Especially in sports, school or even rattling in the shopping cart while getting groceries, they are there. A recent survey of St. Mary’s students showed that 79% report owning two or more water bottles.

Looking at today’s products, bottles are made of metal or reusable plastic. Metal water bottles were invented in the 1940s for the military, but grew in popularity over time along with reusable plastic due to concerns about overusing disposable plastic.

Backpacks have come a long way as well, as they are now designed to hold giant water bottles, showing how the topic of hydration has taken on new meaning over time. 

Gillespie sees the good in this change.

“If carrying around a trendy water bottle helps you stay hydrated and reduces single- use plastic, then I think it’s worth it, even if you buy a really expensive water bottle,” she said.

But water bottle trends can have a downside. Brown has noticed that water bottles have essentially become an accessory and for some, an obsession.

“I always see TikToks of women showing off their Stanley collection, and they’ll have like, 40 Stanley bottles,” she said. “What’s even the point of having a reusable water bottle if you have that many of them? Some of it, I think, is overconsumption.”

Whether it’s a change in the material of the bottles to help protect the Earth or something as simple as adding side pockets to a backpack, hydration has taken on a whole new meaning over time. So, the next time you slide your water bottle nicely into your backpack, take a moment to appreciate how far we have come.