Exploring the fast-growing AHS-themed Facebook pages
Annie Liu
Staff Writer
Many students use Facebook to stay updated on activity within their friend groups, but the recent emergence of several fast-growing AHS-themed Facebook pages has created a heightened sense of unity among the AHS community as a whole. Among these are the American High School Confession Page, the AHS Admiration Wall, and a page specializing in memes relating to American High School that goes by the name of “AHS Memes For Angsty Teens.”
These pages have attracted the attention of students all over the school, with the largest one, the American High School Confession Page, consisting of over 650 followers. The page accepts anonymous confessions through a Google Form and posts those confessions to their feed. For many, the confessions page is a place for giving and receiving guidance from their fellow students as well as simply a place to vent.
“I wanted to give everyone a space where people can release some things they’ve bottled up inside of them,” explained Martin Agsaulio, who created the page as a senior during the previous school year. “[It was] just to let anyone share their thoughts anonymously without being judged…I see this page as a way to help other people, and it’s one of the reasons why I continue to run it even though I already graduated.”
The confessions page was started in April 2018 and has grown rapidly since then—over 8,000 confessions have been posted since its launch. These confessions have covered a wide range of topics, including stress over schoolwork, requests for dating advice, lighthearted jokes, and more serious calls for help from students who are experiencing a rough time emotionally. No matter the topic of a confession, there are always students who are willing to help the anonymous submitters.
“It’s important to me that I help people because there’s a lot of people out there who don’t have help,” explained Daniel Valenzuela (10), who comments frequently on confessions to provide advice. “I saw that there were a lot of people struggling, and I realized…that I connected with those people. I felt like they didn’t get the help that I didn’t get—that I should have had—and I want to be that help for them, so I try my best to give the best advice for them.”
Similar to how the confessions page serves to encourage and help AHS students, the AHS Admiration Wall is another popular Facebook page that encourages students to spread positivity by sending in anonymous compliments about anyone at American. These anonymous submissions are then posted on the Admiration Wall. The AHS Admiration Wall has already received over 150 compliment submissions since it was created in the beginning of October, reflecting how significant the page is to students at AHS.
“I think [the Admiration Wall] is important because high school is a time where there can be a lot of negativity, and this page kind of shows the good things about high school,” said Janine Wang (11), who follows the page on Facebook. “It kind of reflects the good side of our school. By complimenting people or pointing out good aspects, we create a community of love.”
While the Admiration Wall unites students by creating an atmosphere of positivity and love, the “AHS Memes For Angsty Teens” page brings students together through providing a common ground for inside jokes that many AHS students can relate to. This extremely popular page posts memes that consist of jokes regarding AHS classes, curriculum, and school culture in general.
“The meme page has grown so fast because it gives us [AHS students] a sense of an inside joke that only we would get,” said Melissa Shao (11), who follows the page on Facebook. “I appreciate the page for giving me some laughs…and [the memes] are also an assurance that other people thought the same way as me about whatever a meme was referencing.”
In the midst of the rapid growth of all of these Facebook pages, it is evident that they have made their way into becoming a part of American High’s school culture. Students all over campus are aware of these pages and look to them as a place to express their feelings, lift each other up, and find common topics to bond over.
“Overall, American is like a community,” explained Richard Ton (12). “We’re all technically family, and we should all understand each other.”
Caption: The American High School Confession Page, one of the major AHS-themed Facebook pages, is a very common online destination for AHS students. “[People] use that confession page to anonymously say anything that they want to get off their chest without other people getting on their backs,” said Valenzuela. “Because they’re anonymous, that means more people are willing to help without knowing who they are.”
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