Recently, Stanley cups were banned in Middle School, and many Middle School students have been left wondering why. If you do not already know, the Stanley Quencher is a popular water bottle that many Middle School students have been using for their drinks. It keeps drinks cold for up to eleven hours and has been very popular on TikTok. I have three Stanleys, and they are the only water bottles I use, so why can’t I bring them to school? Should they be allowed? Why were they banned in the first place? I started searching for the truth to these questions, leading me to our Middle School Director of Operations, Anne-Sophie Hankla.

The morning announcements have been filled with statements regarding Stanley cups, but confusingly referred to them as “non-sealable water bottles” at first. I asked Hankla if these announcements explicitly referred to the Stanley cups, and she said they were referring to “All of the ones that have a straw, ones that can’t close; that also includes aluminum cans and things like that.” When the announcement was made, she was not specifically referring to Stanleys, but she was aware that they are among the most popular cups with straws in the Middle School. 

I asked Hankla if there had been an incident that caused this ban, and she said yes. “Yes, so the reason is that there have been spills, and someone’s got to clean them up,” she said. “There have been spills that have not been reported, and somebody slipped. There have been spills of things that were not water onto the carpet, and we can’t have that with this many people in one building.” I have to admit this is a very understandable reason to have banned Stanley cups, as spilling and slipping is a very real problem.  Nonetheless, I still love my Stanleys and want to bring them to school. 

I then asked Hankla if this rule would be enforced and if consequences would be given, and she again answered yes. “So, right now, I’ve been very nice. I’ve said, ‘Oh, looks like this is a water bottle for home or weekend and not for school,’  but I’m going to start issuing LOP’s if the problem persists,” she said. 

Next, I asked her about a solution some of the girls in the Middle School had proposed. They have bought small caps for their Stanley straws and have been putting them on their cups to prevent spills. This is a perfect solution for someone like me who wants to keep bringing my Stanley cups to school and prevent spills, but Hankla disagrees. “The problem is when you do that then there’s still the space around the hole of the straw that I think leaks,” she said. “I’m happy to look at it. There is a top for those particular cups with a sliding system, and that’s fine. That doesn’t leak much at all. I understand people are not happy about that, but we do need to prevent accidents and extra work for people who clean it up.” 

Finally, I asked her if this rule would ever be changed, and her answer was a firm no. “No. I suggest you start a new trend with a trendy school-appropriate water bottle.” 

The facts are, we are still allowed to use Stanley cups; they just have to be used without their straws. Students can continue bringing them to school using the sliding feature rather than their straws. 

Nonetheless, many students are opposed to taking out their straws. Eighth-grader Daphne Davis captures this sentiment perfectly. “I don’t like the fact that I can’t use my straw anymore because it motivated me to drink more water, and without the straw, it just doesn’t feel like a Stanley anymore.” 

I agree with Daphne. Without my straw, I just don’t feel motivated to drink my water, which defeats the whole purpose of having a Stanley. It is so much work to un-screw and re-screw the sliding lid every time I drink my water. I can understand the problem of spills, but this just seems like a stupid and annoying rule that creates more labor for the students. I’ve been bringing my Stanleys to school for months, and they have never spilled; plus I never put anything but water in mine. With this new rule, if I wanted water, I would have to unscrew the Stanley slider (which is pretty hard to do), drink the water, and then screw it back on. 

Even though the Stanley straws will never come back, I and many other students find this an unnecessary rule that creates more work for the students. I hope the rule can be reconsidered.