By Lucy Gardner
Tabbies, maine coons, and black cats galore! You can find these cute kittens and more on @gwucats, one of the newest GW community Instagram pages.
While we all know that GW is an environment where school spirit is lacking and peer bonding is a work in progress, some have managed to create a sense of community within this school of independent-minded students through Instagram accounts. The content of these pages vary from meme accounts, such as @gwumemes and @gwu_affirmations, to more niche concepts such as @gwmold, @littlemissgw, and @dogsofgwu.
@gwucats was created in June 2022 by a third-year student at GW, who wishes to stay anonymous. She is the proud owner of a one-and-a-half-year-old short-haired tabby named Argo, shown in the photo above. She started the page as a place for students to share their cats with the greater GW community. “I wanted to create a page for the cat lovers of our campus to get to see other people’s cats and share their own cats with others,” the owner of the account explained.
Since its start, @gwucats has amassed 369 followers and posted over 50 cats. “I did not expect @gwucats to grow this quickly,” she admitted. “I also didn’t expect to receive this many submissions; I never thought I would receive this much content to share.” To be featured, students simply DM her a picture of their feline friends. Each post is captioned with the name of the cat(s) and where they live.
Despite a lack of cohesion on campus, the bond between GW students is quite strong on the Internet. Something as simple as an Instagram post can foster a sense of community and put a smile on a student’s face after a long day of studying; @gwucats helps spread this positivity among GW students. “Social media can become serious and dark when large-scale social issues occur,” @gwucats’ owner says. “I think it’s healthy to have a break from intense media and be able to see something more lighthearted on your Instagram [feed].”
In the future, @gwucats will likely see steady growth as it becomes more popular among students. Followers will surely continue to provide cat content as new students are enrolled each year and as the account gains more traction.
If you’re an owner of a cat either on campus or back home, help foster a stronger sense of community at GW and DM a picture of your furry feline to @gwucats to be featured!
