Dorm Keys, Student IDs, and Bottle Openers: The Legendary SVC Logo Lanyard

SVC lanyards were a must on campus—especially the ones attached to bottle openers.

Edward Everett would likely have appreciated seeing Southern Vermont College students sporting SVC lanyards complete with built-in bottle openers—he was in the glass bottle manufacturing business, after all.

SVC lanyards were a staple on the Bennington mountainside campus, helping students keep track of their student IDs, car keys, and everyday essentials like pens, hand sanitizer, or glasses. 

Lanyards were indispensable back then—carrying SVC’s notoriously bulky dorm keys meant juggling separate keys for private rooms and shared spaces. Interestingly, many students opted for the "hanging out of the pocket" style rather than wearing them around the neck as intended.

To keep up with student demand, the SVC bookstore constantly stocked fresh lanyard designs featuring different color schemes and logos. The particular lanyard highlighted here dates from the college's twilight years, around 2018.