The one hundred and fifty foot crane parked in the construction area has recently taken on a life of its own.
In the past few weeks, a student run Instagram account claiming to be “The Crane” has grown in popularity among the student body. Amassing a total of over five hundred followers WS’s Crane has become a household name among students and teachers alike.
“We wanted to provide a common-shared positive figure for those affected by various conditions of the renovation,” said the crane account.
In recent weeks, the crane has spread its social media influence to Twitter and Snapchat, due to students who enjoyed “the popularity of [its] Instagram account,” according to a recent tweet from @wshscrane.
The crane’s Twitter account has only put out a handful of tweets which, for the most part, are centered around memes and student centered jokes.
“We wanted to lift weight off of fellow Spartans with some humor and motivation as a medium to get through this outstanding year,” said the crane.
Overall student response to the famed account has been relatively positive. Many believe that this account makes the best of a bad situation as it pokes fun at the school’s construction which has been an extreme inconvenience for students.
“It’s pretty comical and random for somebody to do something like this,” said senior Abby Tobias, “our school is good at coming up with random ideas like this and making them into fun and creative jokes.”
Although many times the crane has been asked who its founders are, the owners of the account have opted to remain anonymous stating in a recent Tweet that students should “just enjoy the WSHS crane, it ruins the fun when people start asking about who runs the account.”
All in all West Springfield’s crane account shows the tough and resilient nature of our fellow Spartans. Even at a school where students are forced to walk out in gale force winds multiple times a day, they are able to look at the situation in front of them and crack a joke about how a plain old construction tool has become the newest student enrolled at WS.
“The crane is always in our face so we might as well make a joke about it,” said by senior Gemma Chadbourne, “it gives me hope that we might actually be finished with all this construction one day.”