In Trojan Togetherness, Memes

In a form of protest unique to this generation, one group of CVHS students decided to make a meme page, @cv.k12.ca.us on Instagram, to share their complaints about the school administration.

It started on Sept. 27, the third day of homecoming week, the day’s theme was “Monsters University,” and many students dressed up as “frat boys,” some bringing red solo cups. The CVHS Administration imposed a ban on red solo cups, claiming they promoted drinking culture, causing backlash from students.

“I started this account, because I was inspired by all the red solo cup memes,” wrote one of the owners of the account, reached through Instagram, who declined to give a name.

Many of the memes featured on the account claim the red solo cup ban was hypocritical as the account owners don’t believe the administration is doing enough to stop vaping and drug use on campus.

Now, only a few weeks later, the account already has more than 1,000 followers, about the size of one-third of the student population.

“It’s so overwhelming, honestly,” the account owner said when asked about the large number of followers the page has gained in the short amount of time. “I never expected it to gain so many followers but it’s nice to see so many people both care about our school and joke around about problems.”

The account has received mostly positive feedback from students, many sending in submissions for the account to post.

“We get sent an ungodly amount of them,” noted the anonymous source.

Other common subjects in the memes including complaints with Trojan time, the cafeteria/snack bar, the new football field, and much more.

When asked about the main issues students were upset about, the account owner said, “I think probably how strict administration is, the quality of school life, and how the school spends their budget. The administration has an idea I think of what we’re angry about, they just choose to ignore it.”

Principal Blaine Torpey sent out an email in response to the meme page on Oct. 1.

“I am a firm believer in the value of satire, the importance of critiquing the structures of power and the reasons why we protect our freedom of speech. It is not an official social media feed. There are some extremely inappropriate posts. I think the most important information to glean from the posts is that students are not pleased with the amount of vaping and marijuana on campus. I am happy to hear that students do not want these behaviors on campus, it is an indication that the majority of students do not approve,” wrote Torpey in the email.

“Honestly he made us bigger. He kind of stoked the flames of revolution,” said the one co-owner.

However, the meme page briefly deactivated after Torpey’s email.

“When the email was sent out my initial reaction was to delete it all together, almost a stop while I’m ahead kind of thought process, but I decided to deactivate to think about it. It seemed scary at first but we set aside almost rules for ourselves in order to keep the account running and relevant while still being respectful of the school. We deactivated the account for a short period of time because we wanted to come back with a strong statement and share our overall purpose.”

The page shared this purpose in a post on the same day.

“We believe this account has done something that no club or Trojan time could ever do, it has brought people together. We have observed many people bonding over the content featured in this account. We fully intend to continue posting because we believe that this has become a fun and lighthearted way to express concerns and even inside jokes unique to only the students at CVHS. We are exercising a freedom of expression that we think most students support/enjoy.”

The source also shared disappointment with Torpey’s response.

“In the email sent out the use of drugs around campus was pointed out, but not once the many memes/concerns/dislikes about Trojan time, something that most students are still confused about. We are by no means telling you how to do your jobs but, pointing out the hypocrisy of recent actions of the administration.¨

So, what does the future entail for cv.k12.ca.us? Only time will tell, according to the anonymous source.

“I have no idea where it could go from here, it’s already surprised us so much, the amount of attention we got. We’ve talked about it lasting until senior year but you never really know how long things like this last. They can get real irrelevant real fast.”