An Instagram notification — @icwest_compliments has tagged you in a post. In your direct messages sits a heartfelt anonymous message complimenting your character. You are now the subject of one of over 280 anonymous compliments posted on the page.

Sebnati Jamal ’27 transferred from City High in March of 2024. While adjusting to West, an idea popped into her head — an Instagram page devoted to spreading kindness at West. So on Dec. 5, Jamal started @icwest_compliments. Students can submit an anonymous compliment via a form linked in the page’s bio, and the compliment will be posted to the page.

The idea was partially sparked by the culture difference she noticed between the schools. “The cultures are different [at West] from City. It’s much more athletic there, and people don’t feel as much academic pressure,” Jamal said. “So that’s partially why I started the page. I feel like people were just isolated from each other because of the growing academic competition.”

To Jamal, compliments create a culture of kindness and allow students to connect with each other in a positive way.

“Knowing that you made someone’s day just by writing something down makes you feel good, and other participants feel good because someone truly cares and notices,” Jamal said.

The account got around 120 followers within the first 24 hours of Jamal creating it and 400 by the end of the week. “It was so surprising because I didn’t think people would respond to it so quickly,” she said.

Through the account, Jamal aimed to create a safe space for students who feel disconnected from their peers.

“We spend eight hours a day [here]. These are the people we connect with the most; we spend more time at school than we do at home sometimes,” she said. “So just having a place to talk to these people outside of school and connect with them, and also finding new information, just learning and growing [helps].”

After two months, the growth of the account has slowed down but is still active. Jamal has posted over 280 compliments and the account has amassed over 465 followers.

Along with posting compliments, Jamal has done other projects with the account. One of the biggest was called Winter Buddies, a program where students could fill out a form and be paired with another student. For this project, Jamal partnered with a former West student who now attends a school in Florida, and a majority of the students from West were paired with students from the American Youth Academy.

Over 30 people participated in the program. One of the participants was sophomore Waleed Haroun, who said it was a very positive experience.

“Winter Buddies was a fantastic way to meet new people. With the help of others, I was able to connect with individuals who lived far away, making it a truly rewarding experience,” Haroun said. “I met many new people and found a group of friends who shared similar interests. Winter Buddies not only helped me form new connections but also strengthened relationships along the way.”

According to Jamal, Haroun’s was not a unique experience but was one shared by participants in the program.

“I asked people about it, and they were like, ‘Oh, it was really nice. This person was great. We had very similar interests, so it was really easy to become friends with them,’” Jamal said “I’ve also asked again, some of them have said, ‘yeah, we still talk like, all the time.’”

There were more students that signed up from West than signed up from American Youth Academy, so some students from West got paired with each other.

“Because there was a disproportionate amount, some of the students we had to pair [were both from West]. So those students are actually really good friends now from that winter buddy. It was really sweet to see that.”

The account’s influence has gone beyond the halls of West High; Northwest Middle School and City High School have also created their own compliments accounts, which have 117 and 457 followers, respectively.

Beyond the compliments account, Jamal has also started an account called The Trojan Network.

“I’ve also decided to create another page called the Trojan Network to teach students skills that aren’t really taught in school, while creating, like the same positivity that was created through the compliments page,” Jamal said.

There are plenty of things that aren’t covered in school. Jamal specifically aims to teach students to connect with their body and minds.

“Trojan Network is designed to unite the student body and fulfill the health trifecta. … So [it includes], how to be more confident, how to manage time, how to advocate for yourself, how to do those things that aren’t really taught in school. And just seeing how to [do that] on Instagram would really help,” she said.

The Trojan Network is in the very beginning stages of development. Currently, Jamal has created a playlist called “The Sounds of Serotonin” where students could submit their favorite songs to create a playlist with different music tastes from around the school. She also posted a culture survey to collect data on students’ experiences at West.

In the future, Jamal hopes to use both of her platforms to continue spreading kindness throughout the halls of West High.

This story was originally published on West Side Story on March 9, 2025.