The Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) & texting application Discord announced that they were working on a new feature called “Student hubs” on September 1st, 2021, centers where students with a Discord account can join after entering their school email. After countless hours of the people at Discord working on this feature, on the 29th of September, some of these hubs were opened, including Cam High’s.

Discord’s purpose for this feature is to “make it easier for you to find your classmates on Discord” as stated in their official blog. Students interviewed at Cam High agree that this feature can help students find friends and improve their study habits. Cam High Junior Sai Rithvik Kotla said, “It allows people to communicate with each other. So it’s kind of cool.” Cam High Junior and founder of the first server on the Community Hub Joey DiMarco stated, “I think the ACHS Discord Hub has the potential to bring together a lot of different students so they can make new friends and it can give them better places to study.”

Student’s familiarity with Discord can help Discord achieve their purpose for this feature. Cam High Junior Eyouel Abate stated, “I was already integrated into the Discord community about a year ago and, since then, it’s been perfect, it’s been fine, and I was like, why not join it if there’s no negative consequences.” Kotla agreed with Abate, stating, “We’ve been using Discord for the past few years and so I’ve always liked the app. It lets you do many things: you can talk, videocall, [send] messages, [and] you can delete messages, which is epic.” 

Although students are generally optimistic regarding this feature, they also have some worries. “People are toxic, right, so Discord might be filled with people that are toxic or just hating on others and it might not be efficient.” said Abate. But many Discord community owners have already devised solutions that help deter trolls, for example by having admins moderate certain servers and channels to avoid issues. “We need some kind of administration or something controlling [the Cam High Hub] so it doesn’t go out of hand and if we get that under control then there [won’t be] too many problems.” concluded Abate.

Several clubs have already established a presence on the Hub, including Robotics, Geography Club, and AAPISA (Asian American Pacific Islander Student Association). Students are already making their own servers for people to enjoy, such as “Joey’s Cam High Colony” which has the title of being the first server made on the hub. With the support of these students and those who may learn about and join the ACHS student hub, it lands on the students to decide its future.

To become involved with the Cam High Hub, simply create a Discord account and follow this invite link to get started.