Entering a program filled with 83 new faces is not an easy task, even for someone like me who tries to connect with as many people as possible. I figured a really easy way to do this was through social media.
I created a cherubs meme account on Instagram midway through the summer that replicated a popular form of accounts used by college students. Each week, cherubs submitted their favorite photos of their friends to be posted.
I originally thought it would just be a funny idea for me and my floormates to enjoy, but it quickly became much more. It was a great way to bridge all cherubs together who faced a unique situation in which the girls outnumbered the boys by over three to one.
The account took off — cherubs sent in countless submissions. There were times where I sifted through upwards of 50 submissions before creating a scheduled post, and it was never easy to pick just 10 photos. Unfortunately, I had to deal with a few cherubs who were angry that their “hilarious” photo wasn’t posted.
But it was all worth it in the end.
Admittedly, I did spend some late nights working on the posts, but bringing together a community that was naturally divided felt like a more important cause.
Seeing my fellow cherubs laugh at my posts is something that never got old. The time spent laughing and reminiscing about the photos became an extremely memorable part of the summer.
More than 80% of the cherubs followed the account and it turned into a way for all of us to bond together over photos, even if we had no idea when or where these photos were taken.
The cherubs meme account developed into a part of cherub life that will remain online as a way for us to look back on our time together. What originally started as a joke between me and only a few others developed into a core summer memory.
As a person who was dubbed the clown of the bunch, I’m proud to have created a sense of community through the account for my cherub summer and hopefully more to come.