John Carroll freshmen go viral on TikTok platform

Meghan Kerr, Perspectives Editor

The social media platform TikTok has been steadily growing for years. Now JC’s marketing team has partnered with students to use the platform to further their social media presence and connect with JC students and staff.

Recently, Seniors Flora Lau and Grace Welzenbach revived the JC TikTok account after years of it being inactive. Grace said, “Marketing created the account, but it was inactive, so Flora and I wanted to bring it back as a way to get more students involved and to show what we do at John Carroll.”
Flora revealed that she and Grace “always saw other high schools and colleges on TikTok. They constantly made their school look so fun, and we thought it would be a good idea to show how fun JC is, too.”
Flora and Grace have been consistently creating content for the account ever since they took it over. Flora shared that on the account “we create content that promotes sports, student activities, and everyday life at JC.”
Flora and Grace have created and posted a variety of content thus far. Some of this content includes videos hyping up football games and “Tiny Mic” interviews.
Director of Marketing Kathy Walsh shared that the process of Grace and Flora’s TikTok creation begins with the marketing department. She said, “Typically, they will come to me with an idea for what they want to do, and I will approve or maybe make some additional recommendations before they start creating, but they have done a great job in developing content that really helps us promote John Carroll.”
Lately, the account has been gaining some traction due to the “For You Page” tab on TikTok, where the platform promotes content creators’ videos to users with similar interests.
In fact, one of the most recent TikToks on the account, a Tiny Mic interview where Flora asked a variety of freshmen what they were excited for their freshmen year, earned 20.5 thousand views from other TikTok creators and viewers.
In response to the TikTok account gaining traction, Mrs. Walsh said, “I think the fact that our Class of ’26 TikTok actually has almost 20,000 views as of today just goes to show the power of social media and how when you create good content, people want to share it.”
Flora shared that she and Grace were both excited about the video’s amount of attention.
She said, “We were amazed by all the feedback and attention that TikTok made…We were thrilled to see the support and that the word was being spread.”
However, while the JC TikTok’s fame was a positive result of Grace and Flora’s hard work and content creation, they revealed that fame is not the reason for the account’s creation.
Grace said, “The purpose of the account is to shine a spotlight on everyone at JC and all the events that take place.”
Also in relation to the account’s goal, Flora said, “We want our videos to be an inside look at what a Patriot can experience.”
Mrs. Walsh said that she thinks the account is a great resource for JC Patriots and the marketing department. She feels that it is “a great tool both for attracting future students and for engaging and spotlighting current Patriots.”
Mrs. Walsh also hopes to “expand our activity on TikTok, in part by identifying other student ambassadors willing to partner with the marketing department to keep the momentum going.”
Anyone interested in following or viewing the JC TikToks can visit @johncarrollpatriots on the platform.