At a young age, Christian Jessen, a senior from Spokane, Wash., began collecting coins that his dad would bring him from his business trips around the world. The coin collections would help him remember his dad when he was away on long trips, Jessen said.

“Later, my interest in coins switched to vintage keyboard synthesizers. It all began after watching VH1’s top 100 albums of all time; number 50 was Trans Europ Express by Kraftwerk,” Jessen said.

Jessen first heard the 1950’s German group Kraftwerk, famous for their synthesizer, at his church leader’s house.

Jessen’s first synthesizer purchase was an Ensonic, a keyboard that sported both digital and analog technology. Today Jessen’s collection consists of five keyboard synthesizers.

For Jessen and many others, collecting began as an interest but turned into a skill that others enjoy.

“I always start out collecting things that I am interested in and then over time those things become sentimental,” said Troy Richmond, a junior from Steeles Tavern, Va.

Richmond’s love for collecting began when he was six years old with collecting rocks. Over the years as his interests changed, so did his collections.

At age 10 he changed to baseball cards. At age 14, he began collecting comic books, then later action figures. As he got older his interest shifted to music, which to this day still keeps him busy.

“I have collected around 700 CDs,” Richmond said. For years, Richmond worked in a music store, where he was able to build his selection. After many months, Richmond was able to transfer all his music onto his computer.

“I store all my music at 192 DPI (a music quality rating) to keep the quality high,” Richmond said. Today his music collection is often used to host dance rock parties.

“Troy’s music covers a huge variety but he manages to fit all together into one genre,” said Daniel George, a junior from Bennington, Neb.

So whether your collection becomes a talent or just a dusty box full of memories, the grandkids will still be impressed.