by Dan Whooley

With its emerging popularity as a social media hotbed, many companies and major societal players have adopted Twitter accounts. Now it seems Woodbridge High School has gotten in on the act.

Throughout this year, Woodbridge teachers and staff have taken to Twitter, proudly broadcasting to the world all sorts of events about the school from football games to clothing drives.

This sudden build of a social media presence was inspired by a theory that Principal Mr. Lottmann and Vice Principal Mr. Connelly adopted, known as the “Fridge Theory.” “When you were little,” Mr. Lottmann explained, “ you got an A+, [and] you showed your mom. What’d she do? She put it on the fridge. Now, instead of having to go to your house to see your accomplishments, we show everyone that follows us on Twitter.”

By creating a tagline to go with these tweets, #WeAreBarrons, the school has created a virtual “fridge” to display dozens of events and accomplishments involving Woodbridge students, including sports and extracurricular events. “Every event, we take pictures and document it [on Twitter],” Lottmann said.

The idea was strictly volunteer and open to all teachers. “Like any good initiative, no matter how good it is, if you force it, it isn’t going to work,” Lottmann said. However, a stipulation to include “WHS” in the Twitter handles was made to identify teachers in relation to the school.

As a safety precaution, teachers are not allowed to direct message or direct a tweet at an individual student. As for tweeting during school hours, it’s actually encouraged by the administrators. Mr. Lottmann has even begun tweeting his classroom observations.

This initiative is expected to serve as a tool for all types of purposes. Mr. Connelly has been using Twitter as a way of tracking Woodbridge’s own professional learning network, which serves as professional development for teachers and administrators.

The future of the Twitter initiative seems boundless, or as Lottmann put it, “There’s no ceiling.”