Either for meaningful reasons or simply to express themselves, some upperclassmen have recently been the canvas for their desired tattoo.

More and more upperclassmen seem to be getting tattoos, some with parental permission and others because at 18 they can legally decide for themselves.

According to ABC’s “Teens and Tattoos: Would You Let Your Teen Get Inked?” a 2010 Pew Research study found that nearly 40 percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 have tattoos, and of those, half have two to five tattoos.

Senior Virginia Hurst seemed to focus on self-expression with her ink. Hurst thought a jellyfish was a fun and interesting tattoo to have done.

“I went to a place in Connecticut because I’m not 18,” Hurst said. “It’s called Visual Expressions Tattoo. [My parents] are really cool with it. My dad is mad I got a tattoo before him. My mom said ‘Yeah, whatever.’”

For senior Mark Howells, getting the tattoo he desired was a little harder.

“I went to my mom and dad and said, ‘What would you think about me getting a tattoo?’” Howells said. “And they said, ‘Yeah, no.’ And then I said, ‘What about a meaningful tattoo?’ And neither of them were against it then.”

“My tattoo is the date of when I became an American citizen, and when I was adopted in Manila, Philippines,” Howells said.

Howells originally wanted a tattoo that somehow involved the police force, but did not know whether he would be one or not when he was older. He, like some other students, wanted his tattoo to be meaningful.

“My tattoo is a crown, with the initials of my younger brother below it,” senior Marcus Ellis said. “I got the tattoo for my brother who passed away when I was younger, and my mom and my dad both have tattoos for him that also have crowns on it. I wanted to base mine off theirs.”

Some parents, especially those who have ink themselves, are in favor of teen tattoos.

“I think high schoolers should get tattoos that are in memory or honor of something or someone, and be meaningful,” Ellis’s father, Ezrin Ellis, said. “A tattoo should be meaningful.”

Marcus Ellis and Hurst plan to get more tattoos, but for Howells, that is his only one.

“I made a deal with my mom that I would only get one,” Howells said. “Also, the military has a strict policy on tattoos.”