On the campaign’s last day, May 30, Ezzy Sriram poses for one more portrait with a final piece of advice to wrap up the 4U Campaign. Photo by Suddy Sriram
As the much-anticipated graduation season gets in full-swing for the Class of 2014, a lingering feeling of nostalgia can push some people to reflect on their school years—what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve learned. For one Langley High School senior, reflecting led him to create a campaign that transformed seniors’ lessons learned throughout high school into positive advice for younger peers—an initiative called the “4U Campaign.”
Spearheaded by 18-year-old Ezzy Sriram, the 4U Campaign was designed specifically with underclassmen in mind. As seniors approach graduation and reflect on their own four years, they are able to provide everything from serious advice to upbeat words of encouragement and tips through the use of photography and social media, proving to peers and the community that “unity is trust,” as Sriram said.
Sriram, the co-founder and president of the Entrepreneurship Club at school, said that he was at one of their meetings this spring and thought to himself that high school shouldn’t focus on stress, but rather opening oneself up to as many opportunities as possible.
“I started the campaign to put high school in perspective and I thought, ‘Who better to listen to than seniors?’” said Sriram. “It’s a really neat way to connect.”
WITH GRADUATION just around the corner, the in-school and social media campaign took off quickly. After getting the campaign approved and funded by the Langley High School Administration and PTSA, Sriram and a few fellow classmates worked diligently to prepare for the launch.
With the help of Langley student Rosie Brock, an initial set of portraits were made of a core group of students as they posed with a piece of paper that had some words of encouragement on it, whether it was a quote by someone else or their own advice for underclassmen—it was advice to pass on to their peers. The portraits were then printed as posters and hung up in the school.
“This is the best time of the year for seniors to really look back on their high school time. […] They do have some valuable insight for underclassmen.”
—Sonya Williams, Langley High Director of Student Services
Throughout the two-week campaign, more portraits were taken of seniors. The initial group of models included Sriram, Brock, Logan McLendon, Emma Digiammarino, Dylan Hoang, Killeen Rivers, and Jeff Waters, and quickly expanded to include more seniors as the campaign grew.
The first round was launched on May 19. Over the next two weeks, seniors continued to volunteer for portraits and posted advice on a bulletin board at Langley and left post-it notes with their advice on the posters—all of which was changed day-to-day to allow underclassmen to see as many perspectives as possible.
“I was under the impression that just a handful of seniors would be the core group of models but then the overwhelming support lead to the portraits with seniors creating their own messages, as well as a bulletin dedicated to underclassmen,” said the McLean resident.
Having chosen the timeframe specifically so that the campaign would launch for two consecutive weeks—the first week while seniors were still in school, and the following week when seniors were gone.
“Seniors want to give back to their community,” said Sriram. “There was just no medium before to do it and this has allowed them to do so.”
While it was originally designed as an in-school campaign, social media has certainly allowed the campaign to reach as many people as possible. With the public support by Fairfax County School Board At-Large Representative Ryan McElveen, the campaign grew momentum online.
OVER THE PAST TWO WEEKS, there have been over 10,000 impressions to its Facebook page last week and its presence on Twitter, the word of the 4U Campaign and support for it spread pretty quickly, having even pushed students from a Thomas Jefferson School of Science and Technology contact Sriram to see how they could help.
Langley High School Director of Student Services Sonya Williams has monitoring the campaign and expressed support.
“I think it’s a good idea and a good time of the year,” said Williams. “This is the best time of the year for seniors to really look back on their high school time. […] They do have some valuable insight for underclassmen.”
For more information on the 4U Campaign, check out it’s Twitter page, @4UTip, and Facebook page at www.facebook.com/4UTip.