The majority of students open up Schoology for the first time in the morning with the purpose of completing an assignment or viewing a message from a teacher. As the announcements are posted, they might quickly glance at them, skimming through, and then continuing on with their day. 

For freshman Tommy Hale however, his morning routine is much more focused. He has one clear mission: to leave a like on the announcements, every single morning, without fail. Minutes, seconds even, after the announcements are first posted, Hale gets to work, opening up Schoology, speedily scrolling to the bottom, and clicking the “like” button, for the entire school to see. 

Hale is only the latest addition to the long line of Schoology likers, the newest student carrying on the legacy of those who came before him. 

The school announcements are posted every morning on Schoology by Director of Student Activities and Student Life Chris Petersen. Even though the announcements are said in the mornings, they are also posted so students can go back and reflect on them if they need to. He also posts them for parents and guardians to read, so they can stay informed with what’s going on at school.

On Schoology, all students and faculty members have the option to like the posts, yet they consistently get only one or two likes. Petersen says that whenever he checks who is liking the posts, it is consistently the same one or two students. 

The majority of the school-wide posts are simply stating the announcements, but there are also the Cup of Joe releases, information about school events such as the state basketball game, and co-curricular and sports news that are posted. One post, announcing the snow day on January 12th received a whopping 12 likes, including likes from rookie Schoology likers, who had never interacted with the posts before!

Luke McMiller, class of 2022, was one of the first students to like the Schoology posts, starting when he was a freshman in 2018. McMiller says he initially started liking the posts because he thought, “the information I was reading seemed to be pretty interesting, but I didn’t really see people using the like feature. So I was like, you know what, I’ll show that they’re writing some interesting stuff.” 

After McMiller came students like Ivan Laguna and Avery Linnemayer, class of 2023, who were consistently liking the Schoology posts. Laguna also started his liking freshman year and he says he doesn’t really know why he started, but over time it just became a habit to like every single one. Laguna even continued liking the Schoology posts after he graduated from DePaul Prep, until September 22, 2023, when Laguna tragically lost access to Schoology forever. 

After Laguna lost access, for the first time in years, months went by without one consistent Schoology liker emerging. There were a few students who would like a post every so often, but no one with the dedication necessary to like every single post. For the first time in DePaul Prep history, dozens of posts in a row were receiving zero likes.

That was until October 26, 2023, when Tommy Hale liked his first Schoology post. He started off slow, not liking another post until October 31st, but since then he has stayed consistent, liking every single post. 

Hale started liking the Schoology posts simply because he saw that it was possible and thought that, “it would be fun to do.” 

All three Schoology likers also have different motives behind liking every single post. McMiller stated he liked the posts simply because he enjoyed what he was reading, but Hale and Laguna said that they continued liking these posts out of habit. To stop liking the posts means breaking their streak, which is something that they desperately don’t want to do. 

Because of this need to continue liking, all have stated that they like the posts even when they are not at school. McMiller would check the announcements, even at home, and leave a like, while Laguna and Hale would click like almost automatically, out of habit. Laguna notes that he would often open Schoology with the sole purpose just to like the messages. 

But, what about the students who don’t like every single post? What is their reasoning behind only liking a few? 

Senior Pablo Audette likes the Schoology posts less consistently than the others, and says that he likes the posts whenever he remembers to. He doesn’t go out of his way to check every single post, instead liking whenever a post shows up on his feed. He started liking the posts towards the end of last year, as he was friends with Laguna, and decided to, “take on the mantle of Schoology post liker from him.” 

Audette also is an avid liker of Schoology group messages, which sometimes go ignored, and he always makes sure to like messages from moderators, even when he is not an active member. For groups he is active in, he likes to stay up to date with all the latest information, and for ones he is less, he thinks, “it’s funny to show them I’m still on there anyway.”  

Because these Schoology likers stand alone, they have gotten some attention from other students. Laguna said, “I definitely got some, like walking down the hall, someone saying like, ‘Hey don’t you like every single post?’” While this attention didn’t phase Laguna, McMiller said, “sometimes it got a little bit exhausting, but it was fine.” Meanwhile, Hale hasn’t even noticed a change, saying that while maybe some more students know his name, he doesn’t think that it is a significant amount. 

The big question is why do these few students stand alone? Why don’t other people like the posts? 

Petersen compares Schoology to social media, and how often these days we are obsessed with hearts and likes. A like can represent that you have read something, you are acknowledging it. Due to this, he says that, “because we as a population use social media, I’m shocked that they don’t heart Schoology posts. But I do think that it’s because students don’t use Schoology as much or as actively as they do with their Instagram or TikTok.” 

Meanwhile, Hale says that other students don’t like the posts because they are, “too afraid.” To like the Schoology posts means to put yourself out there to the entire school, and many people are too afraid of being judged to do that. 

Another possible explanation would be that some students simply don’t read them. McMiller notes that some of them can be a bit wordy, but ones with different fonts or colors can catch the attention of students more easily, leading to those gaining more attention. 

Yet, Petersen is happy no matter the amount of likes he receives. He says that, “I would love to see your hearts and likes just so I know people are getting that information because it’s so important. And there’s actually a lot of work that goes into it.” 

And, as for the Schoology likers, they continue to stand alone, apart from the rest of the school. These few, brave students, don’t like for attention or validation from their peers, but instead out of pure dedication to their streaks. They will stop at nothing to ensure that every single post will have at least one heart, and so that another “liking” drought will never occur again.