Three teenage girls, a world apart, are working together to provide a global perspective on current events in a blog intended for a teenage audience. They have blogged their narratives to explain and challenge the media’s status quo as well as write on pop culture from a cross-cultural point of view.
“We want to spark curiosity and get people thinking about why things happen,” senior Shreyal Bhagwat said.
The start of their blog happened through conversations after Calculus class. They discussed the interesting topics that came up in Yu’s Seminar class and how not every student is exposed to these ideas. A few classes later, Shreyal proposed a blog.
“We [wanted to] start something that isn’t traditionally taught at school and can be connected to the real world,” senior Bhagwat said.
Connecting topics they plan to pursue in the future – Yu in psychology and Bhagwat in economics – these writers can simplify concepts not typically considered.
By showing game theory through “Squid Games,” marketing strategies in the Gap campaign, and Labubu’s rise through the exposure effect, they relate complex ideas to common life. Bhagwat wrote in the Labubu article to explain how exposure to the toy caused its popularity, while Michelle broke down the effect of them on the economy.
“The biggest challenge might have been the starting point and answering so many questions before anything could start,” senior Yu said.
Shreyal met An Le, a student from Vietnam, at a UPenn finance summer program. Telling Le about the idea, Bhagwat sparked an interest in Le. Le asked to be part of the execution for their idea, and the girls welcomed her. Despite their differences in time zone, language, and culture, the three writers found common ground in their strong voices. Including An in the writing process of their articles has been fun and eye-opening for the students.
“It’s very interesting to see how different her everyday life is from ours and how we can include that into our articles,” Yu said.
They’ve written about the psychology behind many rising trends that are prevalent in their lives.
“We love Katseye [the group in the ad for Gap jeans] and kept doing the dances; it was fun for us to look into what concepts were behind it,” Bhagwat said.
To keep running smoothly, they emphasize structured communication. They are busy students who have to learn to balance their weekly articles with their lives and time zones. As time continues, they have gotten into the groove and
learned how to write more effectively, work together, and publish more easily as a collective. One way they do this is through a pros and cons list to weigh the benefits of each article idea.
“I’m loving the psychology and economics connections they are making… Psychological concepts are everywhere, and to see their viewpoints applied to everyday life is exciting to say the least,” ELHS psychology teacher Stephanie Jenkins said.
Updating their blog weekly to keep pace with modern media culture the group’s four blogs so far strive to cover a wide range of topics. If you ever find yourself interested in a new take on using economics and psychology to explain media, you know where to look.
