College posters paper over an entrance to Atlanta International School. Each sign represents a graduating high school senior and a goal achieved.
It’s tradition for students to announce where they’re headed by hanging a poster here, a rite of passage that typically draws a crowd of cheering classmates.
But nothing about the last 14 months has been normal. This year’s senior class didn’t just learn virtually, they’re celebrating online, too.
At the private Buckhead school, and in others across metro Atlanta and the country, students are feting the class of 2021 by creating digital yearbooks on Instagram.
“It’s much more a collaborative, celebratory page — really just celebrating our accomplishments because all of us have gone through a really weird senior year,” said George Song.
Credit: Submitted
Credit: Submitted
The Stanford University-bound student body president runs the Futures of AIS 2021 account with vice-president Rodrigo Villagomez, who plans to study computer science at the University of Pennsylvania.
They’ve posted photographs of dozens of their classmates along with their college logos. The posts often elicit well over a hundred likes from followers, who leave a trail of congratulatory comments that range from “swag moment” to “didn’t know I went to kindergarten with a genius” and clapping hands emoji.
Such tribute pages grew popular last year, when the coronavirus pandemic robbed the class of 2020 from year-end rituals right as they were making college decisions. The trend persisted this year, as a chunk of students are still learning virtually at many schools.
Credit: Submitted photo
Credit: Submitted photo
Some Atlanta International students did decorate the entrance area with their college signs this spring, but not all, said Villagomez. College announcements migrated to social media.
“We feel like it’s good to be able to keep an archive,” he said.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
At Banneker High School in College Park, student government leaders Isatou Gomez and Kiersten Huff have featured dozens of classmates on the Banneker21 account.
Gomez, who’s headed to Georgia State University, calls it “our own virtual time capsule.” It’s been a way to bring seniors together during what has been, at times, a “really depressing” year.
Huff, who plans to go to Louisiana State University, used her design skills honed from making party flyers and other graphics to help create the posts.
Ava Young launched a Grady High School account with a Bernie Sanders meme and a caption: “...just follow this account we know everyone is nosy (about) where everyone is going.”
What started as curiosity became a community.
People started following the account, one of two for Grady seniors, and submissions poured in. She’s featured more than 130 students so far. Young created categories so students can quickly find who else is staying in-state and who’s going to the Northeast, West and Midwest.
The comment section erupts with well wishes for each student.
“Biggest slay of all time,” said one commenter, on a post announcing Young’s plans to study religion at Columbia University.
Jordan Freeman runs the Roswell High School account.
She learned virtually for the first part of the year and then returned to campus. Some students have remained online.
“One thing that you don’t expect to miss when you are in quarantine is people you just casually have contact with,” she said.
Interacting with the account’s 520-some followers, which include teachers, parents and coaches, made her realize how much she’s missed people.
Credit: Jordan Freeman
Credit: Jordan Freeman
She’s tried to make the account a celebration, not a competition.
The college admissions culture often centers around prestige, something Freeman said she thought a lot about after she was accepted to Harvard. She decided the University of Southern California, with its renowned film program, was the better fit.
While most students featured on the page are college-bound, she also highlights those going into the military, studying cosmetology and taking a gap year.
She’s received only a few rude messages from people demanding to know why they haven’t been featured yet. Freeman uses an app to plan her posting schedule, and attributes the brazen impatience of some to the anonymous nature of the Internet.
“If you don’t know who runs the account, you just assume it’s some sort of random robot,” she said.
At Johns Creek High School, yearbook editors Ashleigh Hampson and Agam Horowitz and photographer Zoe Gotlin run an account.
The school publishes a physical yearbook, but the deadlines are early. On Instagram, they can share end-of-year achievements.
Each post includes advice for underclassmen. Gotlin, who plans to study violin performance at Vanderbilt University, creates templates with color schemes that coordinate with each student’s future college.
Hampson, a future English and journalism student at Wake Forest University, said they wanted to keep the new tradition going this year, especially since some seniors remain virtual.
“I’ve been sort of joking our graduation is going to feel like our five-year reunion because we haven’t seen people in so long,” she said.
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Hey, Class of 2021!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution would like to invite any metro Atlanta graduating seniors to share their virtual announcements of their post-graduations plan so that we and the community can honor them.
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