At New Providence High School, many of the local clubs and sports teams have a student-run a social media account. Without actually running an account yourself, it can be hard to imagine what it is like.

Sebastian Mercado is a senior at New Providence High School, and he runs the social media account for the STEM Club. The idea came to him after an activity when “I was like, oh, we should post this somewhere.”

He made accounts on both Tiktok and Instagram.  Both accounts are currently active with content being posted on them.

Mercado originally made the account just for fun with his teammates but there are other benefits.  He said he likes how having that account for his club “makes our name known around the state” as well as in the STEM community. The account spreads awareness about the STEM club, and it makes the club more memorable.

The content that he posts on the account varies, from “just formal posts about events and stuff” to less serious content, like skits with a “STEM twist.”

Mercado said that he spends an average of “three hours a week” working on the account. This time is variable though, and often depends on how active the club was that week or what his other commitments are.

Jack Thomas and Andrew Szachara are members of the track team and run the team’s social media account.

Neither of them were the original creator of the track account, which originally started some time in 2018. The account has been passed down over the years as seniors graduated, until Thomas got control of it in 2023.

Unlike the STEM club, the track team posts content solely on Instagram, not any other social media apps like Tiktok.

This does not mean they put any less work into it though, with the two of them both dedicating their time to the account. Thomas said he is in charge of photo taking and uploading, which can take anywhere from forty-five minutes to two hours.

Szachara is the one in charge of posting and creating the videos, saying “he’s more passionate about that.”

Thomas said the reason the account was originally created, and the reason that it is still active today, is to “express accomplishments that some of our teammates have done.” He also said that especially the content Szachara posts helps to bring the team together and generally increase the mood and morale.

The account serves another purpose though, as it helps spread the word about the track team. Both of them were also optimistic about the future of the account, saying that in later years it could be possible that the account gets people to join the team.