Southridge School

Last May, our incoming Head Boy and Head Girl, William “Will” Lauzon and Georgina “Georgie” Adams, had the opportunity to accompany Mr. Stephens to a leadership conference held at St. George’s School. During the conference, they found themselves connecting with other student leaders in attendance, discussing what they loved most about their schools and what they would like to see change. 

“I remember a student from another school mentioning that they did a ‘weekly shout-out’ during assemblies to recognize people doing interesting things off campus,” says Georgie. “We thought it was such a cool idea and it really got us thinking. We have such a strong, supportive community and we’re so good at recognizing academic and athletic achievements, but what are we doing to recognize students accomplishing amazing things outside of school? These students are so humble, they often get overlooked. We wanted to come up with a way to expose and celebrate them.”

After a long car-ride home, throwing around a number of ideas, Georgie and Will decided that the best way to achieve this would be to create a dedicated Instagram page, profiling students as ‘Citizens of Southridge’.

Will explains, “We chose to use Instagram because at assembly, people are often really shy about having to stand up and be recognized in front of their peers, but online, they can still maintain that sense of humility. We decided we would feature students by posting an environmental portrait of them, along with a brief description of what they’re doing.  With the popularity of social media, we knew it would be easy for students (and others) to access the stories and share them more broadly.”

The Instagram format also worked because it combined Will’s personal interest in photography with Georgie’s unique ability to get anybody talking. And so, they launched the project!

In October, they put out a call for nominations to teachers, advisors, and grade reps, and it wasn’t long before suggestions started pouring in (so much so, they had to create a colour-coded spreadsheet just to stay organized!). They consulted with the School’s Communications & Marketing team to develop the Instagram page and soon after, began arranging interviews and photo shoots with students. 

At the time this post was published, seven students had already been profiled on ‘Citizens of Southridge’ and the page had successfully attracted more than 270 followers! Click here to check it out.

Will and Georgie beam as they discuss how the community has responded to ‘Citizens of Southridge’, and reflect on how it has impacted them personally.

“It’s been awesome watching our following grow. We’re very grateful for the support.” Will smiles, and goes on to say, “I think one of the best things about this initiative, one that we didn’t really expect, is that we’re actually helping to connect students across the Senior School in a small, but meaningful way. In exposing these students who are doing amazing things outside of Southridge (where, in many cases, you never would have known), we’re opening up conversations that just wouldn’t have existed before.”

Georgie adds, “We’re a fairly small school and I think most students know people in their own grade pretty well, but it’s harder to get to know students in other grades. Having uncovered some of these stories, I feel so much more connected now.” She laughs and says, “Even with Nic (referring to Nic Wallenburg in Grade 8), I’ll see him in the hallways and I’ll be like, ‘Hey Nic! How’s your triathalon training going?’”

Not surprisingly, Will and Georgie are already thinking about how to keep ‘Citizens of Southridge’ going after they graduate. 

“This wasn’t a requirement of the curriculum or assigned to us as Head Boy or Head Girl, it was just a genuine thing that we wanted to do,” Will shares, matter-of-factly. “We certainly hope to find a couple of students who are equally as enthusiastic about the project and can continue it on – it’s been our baby, definitely a passion project.”

Well, Will and Georgie…we certainly hope so too!

If you haven’t already done so, make sure to check out 'Citizens of Southridge' on Instagram and click ‘follow’ to see future stories as they’re released.

Photos by: William Lauzon Photography, Grade 12

Student Bios by: Georgina Adams, Grade 12

Rebecca James
Specialist, Communications & Marketing