ASB students use SpudderNation Instagram to stay connected

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With high school students attending virtual classes, connecting and socializing with their classmates is more difficult than it is during a normal school year. 

In past years, the Ridgefield High School Associated Student Body (ASB) hosted in-person events. With the switch to remote learning, the ASB chose to ramp up its online presence, offering students a new way to share experiences. 

The ASB runs one of Ridgefield High School’s Instagram accounts, SpudderNation. ASB leadership students use the platform to create online content exclusive to Ridgefield High School. Students started creating fun features that all students can watch from their own homes.

The students started a live show on Instagram TV (IGTV) called Good Morning Wednesdays. On the show, ASB leadership students Presley McCaskill, Jaynie Murray, Gabe Berkey and others appear live each Wednesday on a split screen. Much like a morning talk show, the hosts appear with a coffee or other warm beverage and discuss different topics relevant to their peers. Past topics include “how to start good studying habits,” “how to apply for college” and “how to practice good mental health.” Viewers of the show can submit questions online, and ASB students answer them during the broadcast. According to the news release, ASB Leadership Adviser Stefanie Foster said she is glad to see a chance for students to interact and said the experience is “awesome peer-to-peer engagement.” 

Each Friday, another group of ASB students host “Spudder Night Live,” a video compilation of different skits and segments. Luke Price and Aidan Hundt serve as the hosts of the show and do their own segments, such as interviewing guests or doing a “TikTok of the week,” where they imitate a TikTok dance video. According to the release, Jacob Bell presents the weather and Cash Hill discusses weekend highlights. Justin Wilkins and his dog, Bentley, co-host random shower thoughts, like “Is the S or C silent in the word scent?” Drew Harteloo reviews different products; recently he sawed up a log to review a chainsaw. Anikka Hill helps put the video features together into a show.

Over the holidays, the group of students also created a special music video where high school teachers and staff lip-synced and danced to different sections of “Jingle Bell Rock,” and the students combined the clips together and released it on Spudder Night Live during the break.



In the release, Price said he is glad people are enjoying the show. 

“We started it to make people feel like they’re still connected,” he said. “So if it gets hard to think of new ideas, we remind ourselves that it’s about feeling like we’re all still together.” 

He plans for Spudder Night Live to continue even after they return to school. 

Along with the student-run live shows, ASB also hosts events on Instagram, such as a gingerbread house decorating contest and virtual color wars. The group also sponsored a real-life food drive for the Ridgefield Family Resource Center, posting collection boxes at Ridgefield Pioneer Marketplace, Lava Java and Ridgefield High School. 

Having a social media feed that is almost entirely student-driven is unusual, but it has proved to be incredibly popular; SpudderNation gets hundreds of student views. 

“I am so proud of these students for finding a way to communicate with each other despite all these challenges,” Ridgefield High School Principal Christen Palmer said. “They are absolutely killing it with SpudderNation.”