HVCCConfessions impact on student life

Staff Writer

HVCC Confessions is back for another semester of tweeting after the original page became inactive in May. On the account, @HVCCConfessions, students can voice their frustrations about parking, ask for advice, or announce their undying love for “the chick in the library with the orange shirt.”

With over 10,000 followers, this page is becoming more and more popular with students. To submit anonmyously to the page, students send a direct message to the Twitter account or post on its ask.fm page. Once a confession is submitted, it is posted on Twitter anonymously.

“I wanted people to have a place to go where they can vent their feelings without being judged by anyone,” said one of the page’s administrators, who requested to remain anonymous.

“I follow it just to see the funny things people tweet,” said polysomnography student Davia Zarrillo. According to various students, the confessions page is somewhere they can go when they’re looking for a good laugh or want to keep updated on things happening on campus.

“Reading the tweets are enjoyable. They give you a nice laugh every morning,” said liberal arts student Sofia Isbell.

The page connects students because it “keeps the campus updated and active so students know what goes on the campus,” explained the administrator. Students tweet at the page to ask for advice or just to see if anyone wants to hang out on campus.

HVCC Confessions is run by five individuals who consider themselves to be from different backgrounds and social cliques. The administrators try to meet once a week to discuss the page and how to maintain it.

When deciding on what and what not to post, the administrators often take a vote. They try to weed through the submissions and refrain from posting “anything racist or something that will hurt someone’s feelings.” According to one of the account’s administrators, they do not want to make students feel bad about themselves or target specific individuals.

Their goal is to connect students on a more personal level. “Everyone can easily connect with classmates or members of their sports teams by confessing their feelings or tweeting at us about how they feel or what they want others to know,” said the administrator.

Hudson Valley’s administration cannot control the content shared on social media, but it can monitor it. The school focuses on posts related to the college, like ones on HVCC Confessions and Yik Yak. “We certainly do monitor social media sites and pages where we know our students and our community are active,” said Director of Communications and Marketing Dennis Kennedy.

The college also pays attention to the complaints brought up by submissions on the page so that it can better understand student concerns. For example, the school is taking student parking into consideration after seeing the number of social media posts about it.

However, if students have ideas or concerns about the school, the administration encourages them to get in touch with official Hudson Valley pages rather than HVCC Confessions or Yik Yak. “We are really interested in our students’ concerns,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy also advised that students pay attention to what they are posting, because some potential employers and college admissions counselors look through students’ social media pages. “Students should be careful about what they’re writing, but it certainly can be a vehicle to connect students on a number of different issues or topics while they’re at college,” said Kennedy.

With a growing follower count, HVCC Confessions is becoming increasingly popular on campus. The page plans to stay active for the rest of the academic year.