Social media has transformed into a modern means of recognition for many people across the globe, with sites and pages similar to Brandon Stanton’s viral Humans of New York. His page, which highlights random individuals and brings light to the diversity of the world, has inspired one UA student to make his own university counterpart — Humans of the University of Arizona.
Humans of the University of Arizona is relatively new to the Internet. It launched on Nov. 1 and currently has 339 Facebook likes. Currently, the page hardly gains any traction, but its founder — who has asked to remain anonymous — hopes to change that.
“One of my main goals in starting the page is to make Humans of University of Arizona a prevalent community at the University of Arizona,” the founder wrote in an email to the Daily Wildcat.
The Facebook page, which emulates a Humans of New York style, aims to document and express individuality of students through the retelling of their lives in short narratives. The founder chooses to remain anonymous in order to keep the page’s attention on the UA’s diverse and unique student body rather than on his or herself.
“Humans of University of Arizona strives to tell the unique stories of individuals in the U of A community,” the founder wrote. “I decided from the beginning that I would maintain anonymity throughout the process, with the exception, of course, of those who requested features.”
The page already features students from a variety of majors, including biology, marketing, anthropology and speech, language and hearing sciences. There is even a feature of a local community director from Kaibab-Huachuca residence hall.
The page’s founder was shocked no one had already attempted to start a Humans of UA page.
“I was very surprised to see that no such page already existed when I came to the university this year,” the founder said. “So my efforts began on promoting the diverse life at the university through the influence of the Humans of New York page.”
Each post represents a snippet of the person’s life. A brief, insightful blurb accompanies every colorful photo story on the page, which serves as a vibrant blog about life here at the UA. The founder hopes these portraits, slowly but surely, stitch together to epitomize the UA community.
Getting Humans of UA’s feet off the ground is hard work, according to the founder, who works alone.
“It’s a lot of work,” the founder wrote, “But getting to meet people and share their stories is really amazing. I really encourage people to request to be on the page.”
People interested in being featured on the page can submit a request through a Google Doc here. The only information required is your name, major, email and phone, as well as availability to have your picture taken.
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