Sophomore Sophia Smith said her streak of good luck began in seventh grade when she started wearing a red Buddhist necklace.
Smith said she got the necklace while hiking in Nepal with her family about three years ago. There was a Buddhist monastery located before a dangerous pass in the hiking trail, and a Buddhist monk gave her the necklace to wish her good luck throughout the rest of her trek, she explained.
The necklace is just a red string, but Smith said she thinks it is much luckier than its appearance suggests.
One time, Smith said she lost the necklace while swimming at a lake.
“I thought I had for sure lost it, but I have a friend who has a lake house nearby and she ended up finding it in the lake a few weeks later, without even knowing what it looked like,” she explained.
After the necklace was found, Smith started to believe in its luck even more than she previously had, she said.
Smith said she wears the necklace most days. Even when she’s not wearing it, she feels a sense of security knowing she has it in her possession, she added.
“After I got the necklace, I did also get better grades in school,” Smith explained. “Although that might have been because I paid more attention and put more effort into schoolwork, I think it may have been partly because of the lucky necklace too.”
Published and digitized March 2026.
