Students tell all on new HopSecret site

HopSecret is a new website that gives students the opportunity to anonymously submit their "secrets"- contemplations, personal confessions and random ideas.

"HopSecret is a way for [students] to be able say what's on their mind and connect with other people, so they can have a positive experience while they are at Hopkins," Alanna Biblow, a Health Educator at Hopkins's Center for Health Education and Wellness (CHEW), said.

The well-known blog, "PostSecret," which Maryland-native Frank Warren created, inspired the HopSecret project. "PostSecret" allowed anyone to mail Warren an anonymous postcard with a secret. With so many submissions, the blog became a massive community and art project. People look forward to reading a new set of secrets every Sunday.

"I've read [PostSecret] for a few years now, and I've loved picking them out, and I know a lot of others have have obsessed with that," Biblow said.

(CHEW) and Preventative Education and Empowerment for Peers (PEEPs) created the Hopkins version of "PostSecret," which can be found at hopsecret.wordpress.com.

At first, members of CHEW and PEEPs thought it would be nice to have boxes in their offices, at their events and in other places that students frequent, such as Nolan's, in which students could submit their secret or confession. Despite being anonymous, the submission boxes did not receive a large response. Biblow thinks that students could be apprehensive about being seen submitting a secret at popular campus settings, which detracts from the anonymous nature of the project.

"Some felt a little uncomfortable putting their personal secret in that box," Biblow said.

Biblow then collaborated with Young Joo Kang, Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator, to give the project an online platform this past January. Since then, the responses have increased significantly. The site has been receiving approximately six to seven secrets each weekday. They have been receiving nearly 20 secrets over each weekend.

"We're definitely seeing a lot more responses than the boxes. Online submissions are a lot higher," Biblow said. "For a new blog, [the response is] pretty good, definitely more than I expected. We had like 400 views [Monday]. So it's pretty exciting."

The site has to be updated daily with numerous new secrets due to the volume of responses. Submissions have ranged from academic trepidations to relationship frustrations to less-serious thoughts.

"It doesn't need to be something very deep or upsetting. It can be [something] that you just never happened to say to anyone," Biblow said.

In the past few days, students have sent in thoughts such as, "I actually hate it when people walk through the beach or the freshman quad forming paths. Walking around will take you just about 10 to 20 sec. I would like our campus to be beautiful!!," "I have herpes," and "I feel like I'm the dumbest BME I know. I shouldn't even be in this program; it's breaking me down."

To CHEW, there are no limits of what students can submit. For the most part, all secrets are posted on the site.

"It does [get posted] eventually, it's not always immediate because of everything else going on," Biblow said. "As long as it's along the lines of what we are doing here. . .if people are submitting something, it's going up there."

Biblow noted that, if secrets are not posted, she would e-mail the person who penned the secret, explaining exactly why it is not on the site. CHEW, however, does not want to deny any post, for HopSecret's primary purpose is to foster an open environment on campus and help students relate to each other.

"Hopkins can feel sort of isolating because you're so caught up in what's going on to get through your four years," Biblow said. "We want to find a way to really connect people."

HopSecret distinguishes itself from likealittle.com and JHUconfessions.com, which are used for anonymous flirting and soul-bearing, respectively, with its direct affiliation with the university and its non-gossip nature.  

"I think that [HopSecret] is a Hopkins thing," Biblow said. "It's about confessing something about you personally and not talking about other people. The idea is what's going on with you and connecting you to other people."

The project also aims to help students get the help that they need and encourage the Hopkins community to speak up if they need help. The HopSecret site has a link to a list of both on-campus and off-campus resources for those who need assistance. CHEW and PEEPs want students to know that there is always someone willing to listen to them.

"There's tons of people out there who want to listen and really do care for each individual person who is walking this campus," Biblow said. "We want to make sure that everyone is heard, whether that means submitting a secret or picking up a phone and being heard by a professional."