Juliana Buonaiuto, Undergraduate Student Government president, stated in her convocation speech this year that she got a lightning bolt tattoo during the first two weeks of her first year.
鈥淲hen I first got to campus in 2020, there was not a lot to do, but I met these two girls, and they just really wanted to get tattoos,鈥 Buonaiuto said. 鈥淚 had a huge fixation on the lightning bolt back then. So I decided I was down, and we made an appointment for Warhorse.鈥
Buonaiuto also expressed the coincidence of her lightning bolt tattoo and her later application to work as a Flash Guide.
鈥淭he lightning bolt is a tradition for Flash Guides, but I had already gotten my flash tattoo in 2020. So, when I became a Flash Guide in 2022, I felt like I was destined to be one,鈥 Buonaiuto said.
Buonaiuto had her campus tour scheduled for March 13, 2020, so she never got to experience 麻豆影院 State before enrolling. She explained she simply felt that 麻豆影院 State would be a positive experience for her.
鈥淧eople asked me 鈥榃ell, what if you transferred?鈥 but I just knew that I wasn鈥檛 going to,鈥 Buonaiuto said, 鈥淚 just had the strongest intuition that this is where I wanted to go, and at the time I hadn鈥檛 even been in the state before.鈥
Buonaiuto is not alone.
survey revealed that 32% of Americans have a tattoo. Even more interesting, for those ages 18-29, that statistic increases to 41%. Guess who fits into that age range? Here鈥檚 a hint: it鈥檚 college students.
麻豆影院 State Today went to some local authorities to see if those national trends match the 麻豆影院 community.
and , two local tattoo shops in downtown 麻豆影院, helped explain how customers, many of whom are students, make their decisions.
鈥淎 solid 75% of our clients are students, roughly 100 students a week,鈥 Clint Marsh, owner of War Horse Ink, said. 鈥淲e have three shops, all in Portage County, and we even get an overflow of students going to those other shops too.鈥
Tattoo culture has been a tradition at 麻豆影院 State for years. From Flash Guides getting matching lightning bolts to seniors immortalizing their graduation years on their bodies, students are frequent customers of the local tattoo shops.
David Winland, tattoo artist at Defiance Tattoos, also agrees that most of their customers are from 麻豆影院 State鈥檚 campus.
鈥淩oughly 80% of our customers are students and during the summer we have an entirely different demographic,鈥 Winland said.
Tattoo trends change over time, and, with the influence of Instagram and TikTok, it seems as if every year student tattoos trend differently.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something new every year. Lots of small simple stuff,鈥 Winland said. 鈥淭he most common requests we get are vines, patchwork, fine lines and angel numbers.鈥
Patchwork tattoos are small, individual tattoos that do not necessarily share a theme. They form a collage and provide limited empty space between them. Angel number tattoos are repeating numbers like 222 or 333 that have a personal meaning to the wearer.
Marsh explained some students want to commemorate their time at the university, but sometimes they just want something they鈥檝e been thinking about for a while.
鈥淲e鈥檝e done the Flash logo and graduation tattoos for groups of seniors coming in after commencement. But most people are coming to get stuff they have always wanted,鈥 Marsh said.
Pew reported that the most common reasons for getting a tattoo include honoring something important, making a statement about what you believe in, or, for the 32% of adults who want to boost their confidence, they say improving their appearance with tattoos will do the trick.
Pew also noted that 22% of those inked up have more than one tattoo. The good news is, according to Pew, about 80% of people agree that society is more tolerant of tattoos overall.
As the interview at War Horse Ink drew to a close, Marsh, ever the businessman, decided to throw in one last comment.
鈥淵ou know what, if we have a student who comes in and mentions they read this article,鈥 Marsh laughed, 鈥渨e can offer them a deal on their special 麻豆影院 State tattoo.鈥