Students use social media to help others in times of tragedy

Written by Ike Aire

Mary Elizabeth DuBois, ‘21, says that she remembers waking up to several news notifications on the morning of April 15, 2019. “I was in shock,” she said. “I could not believe that the most beautiful cathedral in the world was burning.”

Like many others, DuBois felt a personal connection to the tragic burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral because she has been to Paris multiple times. “I will never forget the first time I saw the cathedral,” she says, “I was driving by in an Uber on the way to the Louis Vuitton store and asked the driver what it was. When he told me, I knew I would be back for a photo.”

“I remember my friend, Maggie Claire Jones and I, standing in front of it the day after that and posing hand-in-hand, squatting down and leaning over a bit. We posted it later that day.”

While the fire was still burning through the medieval cathedral, DuBois decided to post the playful photo that she had taken a few years earlier on her Instagram story to voice her support for not only people that the fire had the potential to hurt but, “for the French,” as her caption read. 

After the post, DuBois received many comments on her post talking about how heartfelt it was and how much it must mean to the French. No one that commented was French. She later said that she received text messages that she had inspired a wave of people to post similar stories voicing their support and boasting the fact that they had traveled to the most basic destination in the world. 

Anna Lou Williams, ‘22, another lover of travel, says that her favorite city in the world is Nashville. She is from Florida. In early March, when tornadoes ripped through the city she knew the best thing she could do was post a picture she had taken two years ago in front of a giant pair of wings on the side of a wall downtown. 

Williams says, “I was on Snapchat news, which is where I get my news, and saw that there had been a tornado that killed a number of people. Something just clicked and I thought to myself, ‘I have a cute picture of me in front of those giant wings in Nashville and I’m sure if I posted a photo, it would really help the people of Tennessee that have been impacted by this tragedy.’”

The photo radiated hope to those in the Wofford community whose cities in the surrounding area were affected. She said that many Tennessean Terriers approached her thanking her for the thoughtful words and the cute Gossip Girl reference.