Two students inspired a new wave of school related social media accounts with their page dedicated to terrible school parking lot parking jobs. Meet the faces behind @pfhsparkers on instagram.

At nearly any point during the past few weeks, a Potomac Falls student could open up their Instagram follow requests and see an influx of new requests from accounts centered around different items found at Potomac Falls. The accounts have caused great laughter and perhaps even greater confusion, but what started this idea in the first place? 

On Nov 8, 2021, news began swirling around the halls regarding the new “PFHS Parkers” Instagram account. Students at Potomac Falls received follow requests from the account and then started what seems to be the latest in high school social media chaos. The creation of tons and tons of Potomac Falls related Instagram accounts.

The second account to surface was @pfhsantimask, which posts student submissions of people at school not wearing their masks properly. The account has gained over 600 followers since its debut on Nov 16, 2021. An almost absurd amount of accounts have been created following the popularity of the @pfhsparkers and @pfhsantimask accounts. These accounts have ranged from being about shoes to school lunches to even an account that targets the creation of new “PFHS accounts”.

After reaching out to the @pfhsparkers instagram account for an interview, the owners of the account were kind enough to reveal their true identities. So, who has been behind the “sniping” of all these terrible parking jobs? None other than seniors Armen Khachatryan and Leila Faour. 

What inspired these students to create an account based solely around the terrible parking that can be spotted in the Potomac Falls student parking lot? “Leila thought of the idea of a parking account after I had taken a video of someone’s bad parking,” said Khachatryan, in regards to what initially sparked the idea. Faour followed up by adding, “I saw that Armen had posted a video of terrible parking on his Snapchat, and I came to him and told him that we should definitely create the account.”

The video being referred to was of a black Mazda that Khachatryan originally posted to his own personal Snapchat story, but later posted to the @pfhsparkers Instagram account. The video has racked up over 1,400 views since it was posted on Nov 8. 

Since its debut post, the account has reached 595 followers as of Nov 22. The success has come as a surprise to the accounts owners. 

“I didn’t realize how big the account was until I went to school the next day and everyone was talking about it in class and even showing their teachers,” said Faour. Khachatryan admits that he and Faour did not intend for the account to become as influential as it did, “we honestly made it as a joke and didn’t plan on continuing the account for more than a couple days,” said Khachatryan. 

Every student has a different feeling about the new wave of instagram accounts being created centered around life at Potomac Falls. But what about the two who started it all?

“It feels nice to know that we started something, but the influx of accounts is kinda annoying because of the randomness of each account,” said Khachatryan. Faour added on by saying, “At first, I thought the accounts were kind of funny, however now, I find them to be a bit odd and disruptive in my feed. I do feel that it was cool that Armen and I started a “trend”, and I definitely did not expect it to have this much of an impact on making other accounts.”

One student has been caught and posted by @pfhsparkers on multiple occasions. With his highly recognizable car, junior Armaan Kotwal has gotten his parking submitted to the account three times. Kotwals’ parking being criticized made him feel “very defensive, because my parking had to do with another vehicle’s terrible parking and the picture was taken after the vehicle left,” Kotwal went on by saying “after two more times [of being posted to the account] I just got used to it and didn’t feel much of anything.” 

Junior Charlotte Tuma has also gotten her vehicle submitted to the account. The photo submitted was captioned “Bumper scratcher” and included an image of Tuma’s car reversed into a parking space, with the tires touching the curb and the bumper of the car barely making it above the sidewalk. Tuma said her reaction to the photo was, “discouragement, because I thought I was good at reversing but turns out Edgar (Tuma’s driving instructor) had betrayed me.” 

Posts to the account have gathered tons of traction, with victims of @pfhsparkers attempting to defend their ridiculed parking jobs in the comments. Friends of victims can also be seen tagging them to let them know that their vehicle has been the next target of the pfhs parkers epidemic. 

Even teachers have joined in on the fun, “We hear teachers talk about it sometimes not knowing who runs it. Some teachers even follow us,” said Khachatryan. On a post of a white car driving almost completely over a curb in the Safeway parking lot in Countryside, social science teacher Michaela Ottenberg commented, “When you’re trying to make it to Safeway before it closes for good.”

In an effort to keep submission levels up, the owners of @pfhsparkers announced that they would be holding a “worst parker” contest from Nov 19 through Nov 23. Students can submit photos of their own parking or others in order to hopefully be selected as a winner. The winner of the contest was announced on Nov 24 and was revealed to be senior Gavin Hunter, who submitted a photo of his car parked on top of a curb with a person underneath.