Senior Amelie Yan
Senior Amelie Yan boasts a profile photo of Taylor Swift holding a guitar and embodying an expressive face. Yan was scrolling through her Pinterest board when she came across this picture with her profile picture, which she has used since her junior year.
“Taylor Swift is one of my passions, one of the things I love and it’s kind of goofy,” Yan said. “The picture is a representation of my mental state 90% of the time in high school and is generally reflective of my personality.”
As Yan began applying for college and reaching out to teachers, she decided to change her personal email profile picture. She wanted to come across as professional and decided her profile picture would harm the image of herself.
“I’m not about to send emails with that profile picture [of Taylor Swift],” Yan said. “Especially to, for example, tennis coaches when I’m applying for colleges.”
Freshman Natalie DiPaula
One of the many changes that freshman Natalie DiPaula made during her transition from middle school to high school was her profile picture. She decided on a slice of toast with a flower crown from the video game Omori.
“I have 80 hours on Steam [playing Omori],” DiPaula said. “Because it’s kind of a long game.”
In Omori, there are two worlds: a dream world and a real-life world. In the dream world, characters battle to the last person standing. The loser of this brawl turns into toast.
“The character is one of my favorite characters in that game,” Dipaula said. “[Omori] is my favorite game.”
Sophomore Anaya Dhawan
Sophomore Anaya Dhawan’s profile picture spotlights her interest in fashion history. She chose the image of a woman peeking over her sunglasses while reading a magazine for its sophisticated aesthetic.
“It’s very adjacent to European high fashion,” Dhawan said. “The black beret and short, 50s, French-looking haircut meets the physical philosophy [of the time].”
Dhawan took inspiration from the beat generation of the 1940s and 1960s, when prolific poets and rejectors of capitalism dressed in neutral yet inelaborate ways.
“I’m very much into the 60s at the moment,” Dhawan said. “I think this picture is modern, but the sophistication and the black and white filter appealed to me nonetheless.”
Theater teacher Phillip Reid
Theater teacher Phillip Reid set his profile picture as a comic strip from Q2Q, which is a technical theater cartoon. Q2Q is shorthand for cue to cue, which means a slowed-down run-through of every technical element of the show.
“[The comic] is about everyday life working in the theater,” Reid said. “So it’s about sound and lights, and I just found it pretty funny.”
He didn’t have any updated professional shots, so he chose a fun and lighthearted substitute instead.
“[This cartoon] made me laugh,” Reid said. “It brought a smile to my face.”
Junior Mahdi Vaghoorkashani
Junior Mahdi Vaghoorkashani has a passion for nature photography. On one of his many camping excursions, he captured a jaw-dropping picture of the sunrise during golden hour at Camp Snyder just when they were about to pack up their tents.
“I go camping at least four or five times a month,” Vaghoorkashani said. “Nature is just a whole different vibe.”
Philmont Scout Ranch is one of Vaghoorkashani’s favorite hiking locations. Hikers go on a nine-day trek in the mountains during which they must carry all the food and equipment that they need.
“We did this hike this summer and it was awesome,” Vaghoorkashani said. ”There were a lot of great sceneries.”
Junior Naomi Leiser
Junior Naomi Leiser has donned her profile picture for nine years. The picture, a pink princess cartoon, brings back nostalgic memories from 2nd grade.
“I loved princesses when I was little, so that’s why I chose it,” Leiser said.
Although this princess doesn’t come from any show or movie, it still holds sentimental value.
“It’s almost like a memory when you’re attached to a certain object,” Leiser said. “I don’t want to change it. It just reminds me of when I was younger.”
