One of the many things the administration works on is helping the school branch out. A blue square on the school website opens up to a list of all the social media that Glenbrook North uses: Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest, Blogger, Twitter, Flickr, and Vimeo.

Karen Geddeis, director of public relations and communications, is one of the people who works with these accounts and said, “In PR and communications we’re looking for the next step, and social media is the natural extension.”

Although the networking sites are used to update students on the latest, upcoming events, instructional technology coordinator Ryan Bretag believes they are also a way for students to simply become a part of the school.

“Students should ask themselves, ‘How do I want to connect with GBN?’” Bretag said.

He acknowledges how students can connect to the school through sports and clubs, but also offers social media as an alternative way of being a part of the community.

Geddeis thinks of social media as a way of “getting people involved with the conversation and knowing there’s another outlet to connect with.”

Senior Sawsan Saleh does not follow any of the administration run accounts and does not believe students usually do. In order for them to gain more popularity, she thinks they should “be relevant to student life.”

Geddeis said the social media sites are a way to communicate more informally than the official website. Administrators can be out at school events and snap a picture, sending it within minutes to the twitter account and, as Bretag said, displaying to the world ‘what it means to be a Spartan’.

Bretag offered an additional purpose for the accounts, stating that social media allows GBN to tell the school’s story using today’s communication platforms.

“There’s not a moment when our team isn’t excited about what is happening in this school,” said Bretag. “We’re like kids in a candy store.”