With the recent and rapid rise of social media as an information outlet, many students have begun to use social media as a means of communication in school and to promote their grade. This phenomenon includes Walls grade-wide accounts which often post photos of various activities and highlight students in the grade to create a friendly environment and spirit within students. For Walls freshman, though, Instagram has become a minefield.

In addition to the official account @penguins2027, run by the freshman class council, another Instagram account, @swwclassof2027, emerged around December of 2023. The account quickly amassed over 100 followers and the attention of many freshmen. The account, which does not post consistently, occasionally showcases student artwork. 

The presence of the duplicate account creates confusion and tension within the class since oftentimes, students don’t know where to find relevant information for school assemblies, events etc. On numerous occasions, the HSA has tagged the duplicate accounts in posts, causing a Freshman frenzy over where information should actually be sought. 

The creator of the “mystery” account remains anonymous.  Sabrina Rawlings (‘27), noted  that she “had heard stuff that it might be an adult,” but that she doesn’t know. Nirvan Welagedara (‘27), a member of the  is on the freshman class council said, “I have DMed them [the owner of the account] to find out who they are because we have our own account [@penguins2027] for student council that has the same purpose of this account, but they haven’t contacted me back.”  The account owner has actively tried to not reveal their identity.

Recently, the account has only been posting on its close-friends story which nobody outside of the class of 2027 has indicated they can see.  

In the account bio, there is  a link where students can anonymously share thoughts and confessions for the account to then post. There have not been many confessions sent, or at least posted, so the owner instead posts their own thoughts.  Not all of them have been negative, but some have evidently had the capacity to  engender disagreement. 

For example, on April 3, the account posed the question “Who’s the most annoying?” There have been mixed reactions among the grade, but the account owner did not post any responses to the story, if there had been any.

According to the School Without Walls’ social media policy and expectations, “students are expected to refrain from posting negative photos or language on social media sites.” While the Walls policy appears to come into conflict with some of the content posted on the anonymous class of ‘27 account, no action has been taken against the account owner. 

Addressing the  confusion brought on by duplicate Instagram accountsm feels particularly pressing for some freshman because as explained by Mia Ferris Artiga (‘27), “I feel like people are using Instagram a lot more now.”  Ferris-Artiga attributes this rise partially to mounting legal threats against TikTok, which has long been a preferred alternative to Instagram.