The class of 2025 made it out alive! After four years of SATs, club events, and final exams, seniors have strived to build up the finest high school resume possible. With the release of college decisions a mysterious individual(s) has commemorated student’s efforts, tributing an Instagram page to college commits.
After the first PPCHS decisions page sprouted, it provided a platform for the class of 2025 to showcase their hard-earned achievements. This year, two separate college decision accounts have emerged, granting students double the chance to be featured on a page.
These Instagram accounts have become a source of pride and inspiration for the entire school community, as students eagerly await the opportunity to have their college acceptances and future plans recognized.
After receiving the college acceptance letter, open up the Instagram app and search for your preferred account.
To appear on the @ppchs25decisions page, click the link in the biography, and open up the Google form. From there, fill out the required information regarding college/university, proposed major, and Instagram username, and soon your face will be featured. Then click the “message” button, to DM the account privately and send in your graduation portrait photo.
For @pcdecisions25, the process of appearing on the page is simple. Once you click on their Instagram profile, a link to a Google form is in their bio. From there students type in their name, where they got accepted, and their senior portrait alongside a baby photo.
Some students even take the extra step of applying to be featured on multiple pages! Such as the case of senior Ashley Riesgo, who has embraced the opportunity to celebrate her accomplishments across various platforms. When asked which one she preferred, she expressed “I would say the @pcdecisions25 because it is one page and not like three slides of different pictures.”
Senior, Olivia Sinclair, featured on @pcdecisions25, experiences a heartwarming sensation as she approaches the final moments of her high school journey. Providing a new perspective on the Instagram pages, she shares the bittersweet feeling of this closing chapter with loved ones. “My mom saw the post and sent it to a lot of my family and so I feel like the page is not only for ourselves but also to share with our extended family.”
When alumni of the school were students, the news of college decisions spread rapidly through word-of-mouth and physical interactions, rather than the digital platforms available today.
Without the ability to instantly share their acceptance on social media, students relied on telling their friends and peers in person to celebrate their accomplishments. The hallways and cafeteria would buzz with excitement as students eagerly awaited their admissions notifications, quickly sharing the news with their classmates.
Camille Tate, an alumina who now teaches APUSH and financial literacy recalls what college decisions were like for her in high school. “I remember when I was a senior everybody was like oh my gosh college decisions! It was like a competition as to who applied to the most colleges and who got accepted into the most colleges.”
Alumni John Jablonka, who now teaches AICE International History, is renowned on charter grounds for his pride towards Florida State University (FSU). His school spirit reflects his appreciation for the decision account as it makes students “feel great to get recognition without asking for it, or even realizing that someone is putting it out there.”
Jablonka reminisces on his final moments as a senior at the bell ringing ceremony, a tradition still in place today. “The bell ringing ceremony, I still have that memory and I look at it fondly. Mr. Bayer, my parents, and my sister were there, and I really appreciated it.” He went on to explain how the social media accounts and college T-shirt day, “bring Charter together as a community, which is something that our school does really well.”
However, the lack of digital platforms meant these achievements were often only recognized within the immediate social circles, rather than being showcased on a public stage.
Principal Bayer, who brought the bell-ringing ceremony tradition to life at Charter adds insight into this growing trend students are starting. When he was in his senior year of high school he mentions that finding out about these decisions were “purely word of mouth.”
The Instagram pages that now commemorate these accomplishments provide a modern outlet for students to share and celebrate their successes with the entire school community.
