![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
TikTok’s nature and algorithm are designed to be centered around things that the user is interested in. Whether that be fashion, food or lifestyle, everyone has their personal interests. This has caused a rise in accounts that are dedicated to specific things. Many cooking accounts are dedicated to foods good for college students and some fashion accounts are dedicated to styling microtrends. But when it comes to Dylan Colleran ’27, his interests lie in a TikTok account dedicated to fragrance collecting.
West High’s very own influencer talks about his experience with social media and growing his account. Colleran’s account, @ScentedGent, is a fragrance account centered around him reviewing and ranking popular fragrances. The account also discusses his experience with fragrances and how his collection has grown.
Beginning his account on TikTok in November 2023, Colleran was inspired by his love for fragrances and other fragrance influencers to start creating content.
“I love fragrances. I like to collect them. I decided to turn that into a little fragrance account on TikTok,” Colleran said, talking about his inspiration for ScentedGent. Other famous fragrance influencers, like Jeremy Fragrance, influenced Colleran to start officially posting.
“[Jeremy Fragrance] really inspired me. He was so passionate about fragrances. After I saw [him], I just thought, ‘Maybe I’ll follow in his footsteps,’” Colleran said.
As a fragrance and cologne reviewer, Colleran mainly gives recommendations and talks about his favorite fragrances on ScentedGent. Many of his videos include the current colognes he’s wearing and what is trending throughout the seasons. While ScentedGent is on multiple social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, Colleran finds TikTok to be his preferred app.
As Colleran’s account is growing, his fragrance collection is expanding as well, despite the fact that fragrances can be expensive due to the ingredients chosen for the scent or the luxury brand.
“You hear about fragrances online and just start getting one, and then you get a few more,” Colleran said.
Throughout adding a little over 30 colognes to his collection, Colleran’s favorite fragrance has stayed consistent with Oajan Eau de Parfum. This fragrance is also his most expensive.
He hopes to continue collecting more fragrances and is working with brands to expand his collection further. Using apps such as Influenster, Colleran reaches out to brands to collaborate with them, receiving public relations packages in exchange for a review of their products. Reaching out to brands can be as simple as an email where the influencer agrees to work with a brand and endorse their products in exchange for a free product. Colleran has received several PR packages from brands.
Choosing fragrances as the main topic of his account was easy for Colleran. “You want to smell good. You want to get compliments,” he said.
It’s only up from there for ScentedGent. Colleran is starting to expand his account by gaining more followers daily and hoping to expand to different areas of content creation. Through giveaways and collaborations, Colleran hopes to grow his account past fragrances and incorporate fashion and lifestyle into his content.
At the end of the day, it isn’t the amount of followers or PR packages, but the actual experience of content creation that makes it worth it for Colleran.
“I do it for the enjoyment of it all,” Colleran said.
This story was originally published on West Side Story on February 20, 2025.