As nearly two hundred thousand students and staff return to schools across Montgomery County amidst the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the one thing virtually every member of the MCPS student body has in common is a mask, but a quick stroll through the hallways of Richard Montgomery High School (RM) dispels any notion of uniformity. Instead of a sea of faces covered with teal blue surgical masks, there is a menagerie of varying designs highly reflective of the diverse group of students who attend RM.

Junior Ellison Mohan dons a light grey face covering with a printed camouflage pattern.  For him, picking which mask to wear for the day was not a complicated decision. “I have a little collection of them–like ten or so masks,” Mohan said. “I just choose randomly out of that.”

 Although comfort was a major factor that went into his choice of mask, Mohan also took into consideration the design and appearance of what he chose to wear. “I like the unique look of it,” Mohan said of his camouflage mask, preferring its more unique design to the regular surgical masks or fabric black masks that many other students chose to wear.

Freshman Sushma Katta also feels that comfort and design are important characteristics a mask should have. “I like having masks that have colors, and designs like flowers really appealed to me,” Katta said. “I used to have a plain white mask, and I didn’t really like it–it wasn’t that breathable.”

Although many students choose to wear masks that accessorize their outfits, looks are not everyone’s concern. Sophomore Joshua Fan stuck to wearing a well-fitted surgical mask. “I don’t often go and look for masks,” Fan said. “We have a lot of surgical masks and it just works. I don’t put too much effort into my own fashion, so you know, whatever works, I just wear it.” 

Trying to strike a balance between the looks and comfort of his mask is not a problem for freshman Max Gruen. “The ones that feel nice on my face are also the nice looking ones,” Gruen said. 

Fan, on the other hand, had to forgo his first mask choice due to some problems with the design and comfort tradeoffs for available masks. “For a bit, I kind of wanted to get a reusable mask because I thought it looked cooler,” Fan said. “ But a lot of the time, it wouldn’t fit me and it was a little uncomfortable.” Fan also felt that the reusable masks he wore were a little too tight around his ears and caused more discomfort than a mask should have. Having to choose between appearance and comfort was not something Fan desired, which factored into his eventual decision to stick with a surgical mask.  

As the pandemic continues, students across Montgomery County are embracing the mask requirement-a testament to the resilience of the MCPS student body.  

“In my opinion, masks are most likely going to stay a health thing that you can have look nice,” Gruen said.

Similarly, Katta believes masks can be used as a fashionable way for people to express themselves.

Mohan shares a similar sentiment with many other RM students. “Before, I think masks were already very low key, but getting a slight popularity.” Mohan said. “And with the pandemic… it’s evolving into a fashionable thing. Masks are just another article of clothing but I mean, why not make it look good?”