Discreetly meeting, @LHS_Admirer stayed anonymous while dishing details.

Photo Illustration by Vail Moshiri

By Vail Moshiri
In lieu of negative Twitter accounts trending, one student launched an account that reflects a positive twist.
“It’s kind of whatever, you know? But, it’s pretty funny,” senior Alex Ewy said.
It’s a simple process: follow the LHS Secret Admirer, wait until they follow you back, then send them a direct message with your secret. It doesn’t need to be serious. The Admirer will tweet it through their account for you.
The LHS Secret Admirer was created on April 16. The account took an estimated three days to reach minor fame throughout the school. However, for @LHS_Admirer, fame wasn’t expected.
“I really went in with no expectations. I didn’t know if it was going to shoot off really quickly or if people were just going to be like ‘that’s stupid,’ ”
@LHS_Admirer said.
“It wasn’t really my style, but I just saw all the hate out there like [@StupidLHSTweets]… I just wanted something nice going around,”@LHS_Admirer said. “I just wanted there to be a way people could say nice things about each other.”
The Admirer said that they often overhear people talking about the account around them and smile to themselves knowing their secret is safe.
This year, the account had a bit of a surprise: most of the DM’s are coming from freshmen.
“They weren’t exposed to it last year. It’s new to them everyone else is pretty used to it at this point. It’s like been around for a while and [students] have said what they wanted to say,” @LHS_Admirer said. “I feel like it’s kind of a younger thing to do. You know send something privately to someone that you don’t want to say to their face.”
Online profiles don’t generally give an honest reflection of who we are in reality.
“I’m a very happy person, but I think [the account] is kind of a separate thing from me. I wouldn’t say I’m quite as proper or sweet as the account is,” @LHS_Admirer said.
The Admirer talks about how the account has (or hasn’t) affected his or her life.
“It’s so much of a secret that I don’t know that it really has affected me that much. The way I look at everything,” @LHS_Admirer said. “I guess it gives me more of a positive feel toward my high school career, but I’d like to think that it’s just a different part of me. It’s not really me doing it. It’s me being the stand in so other people can say things.”
With an account like this, a sense of responsibility accompanies it.
“I try not to post sexual things and hold off on cursing. I try to keep it as appropriate as possible,”
@LHS_Admirer said.
More common themes are someone saying ‘This guy doesn’t get girls,’ or ‘I’d never be like that person.’
“Sometimes people send me things, and I don’t know if they’re offensive or not. For a while, I got a series of direct messages about this guy that people were saying ‘If I was a freshman I would totally be with [guy],” @LHS_Admirer said. “I wouldn’t post it because I didn’t know if it was some kind of inside joke I didn’t know about or what. I just don’t want to offend anyone.”
Senior Chase Oehlert takes a different perspective.
“It’s high school. I don’t think it matters very much,” Oehlert said. “I mean honestly, if somebody really had a crush on someone you might as well just tell them.”
The Admirer is a senior and has to figure out what to do next year. If he or she did decides to keep it running, who would run it?
“Someone with good judgement that’s a genuinely nice person and won’t abuse it,” @LHS_Admirer said. “I think it’d be someone that I’m close to. Like a grade or two grades below me. I would just pick someone who I think would care. I think I know who I’d pick if they’ll do it.”