By GRACE LIU
Staff Writer
*Actual names have been replaced with Mod 1, Mod 2 and Mod 3 to ensure anonymity*
One day during physics class in November of last year, three students came together to start a new Instagram account: UHS AP Memes. The account was invented as a way to help relieve the stress of many AP classes with humor.
“We usually make memes out of what Smay’s talking about [during physics class] so I was like, hey, we should start a meme account and post this stuff,” Mod 1 said. “In that very period, we made the account.”
The first day of the account’s creation, it had almost 200 followers. In the past three months, a new moderator was added to the original team and it has reached over 700 followers.
“We had a lot of big jumps in followers whenever we post a significant meme,” Mod 1 said.
Although the name suggests it is exclusive to AP students only, the moderators aim to not only include those taking AP classes, but to also be relatable to the student body as a whole.
“Even freshmen who don’t have APs enjoy the memes. We have gotten a whole lot of very positive feedback from people regarding the page,” Mod 1 said. “We get a ton of DMs of people saying they love it, and also we overhear a lot of conversation about people talking about how funny the memes are.”
However, the moderators of the page wished to make clear that their posts were not meant to be hurtful to UHS programs or administration.
“Some teachers or students may think that we started the account to roast or ridicule Uni and its teachers, but in reality we started this account in order to help students with their stress and struggles with their AP grind by making dumb memes,” Mod 1 said. “We don’t want to be mean to any teacher or program at Uni.”
The page also tries to be helpful to students as well, in both education and even life in general.
“Some people text the account just to talk about their lives or ask for help with their AP science grind,” Mod 2 said. “Sometimes we get caught in the middle of conversations about the page and play along just to see how people feel. We try to post ‘+C’ memes the night before every Calc exam to help people remember.”
“Some people say the memes actually help them remember some smaller details for tests and quizzes. We try our best to stay anonymous and it’s mostly working,” Mod 1 said.
The page has become well-known across the UHS campus since its creation, and has begun to integrate into student life.
“When UHS AP Memes first requested to follow me on Instagram, my first thought was, ‘This is a scam,’” junior Diya Chakraborti said. “Nevertheless, I followed back because who doesn’t like memes they can painfully relate to? Some of the memes are so relatable that I burst out laughing randomly in an unrelated conversation with my friends.”
Perhaps the appeal of this account could be attributed to its specificity to UHS culture. “Like UHS Confessions [a separate Facebook group that posts anonymous confessions by UHS students], we aim to be a part of social media accounts specific to Uni,” Mod 3 said.
“I love how some memes, like the ‘uni student bingo’ are very humorous but also reveal our social culture at school,” Chakraborti said. “Though most of the squares are stereotypes or generalizations, I feel like many students can somewhat relate to them, such as taking 20 AP classes or getting boba multiple times a week.”
“I feel like UHS AP Memes really captures me by its level of humor and I actually [laugh] at their memes,” junior Cindy Wei said. “I’d do anything to make this account live on but we [have to] get the perfect descendant of [the account runners] with the same perfect type of humor…I love this account and it’s a blessing since the day it requested to follow me.”
The moderators of UHS AP Memes hope that their account continues even after they graduate.
“We will find worthy heirs to continue our legacy who we trust to keep the Uni meme culture going,” Mod 1 said. “We want this to become a part of the Uni culture like the UHS Askings page.”
“We don’t want it to ever die,” Mod 2 said.
Sword & Shield
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Co”meme”dic Relief: Behind UHS AP Memes
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Cordy Matthews • Nov 3, 2019 at 3:27 pm
Amazing article once again, Mr./Mrs. Sword and Shield! I love going on the Instagrams and looking at funnies by University High School students!