From constantly flipping water bottles to doing the “Juju on that Beat” dance, students have been eagerly trying out a vast variety of social media challenges that have become particularly popular over the past few months.

“The Juju on that Beat Challenge has definitely been taking over Instagram and other social media, and it keeps on continuing,” sophomore Nia Hoq said. “There’s also the Mannequin Challenge, where people stand still in a pose doing everyday things and then the camera [person] walks around, and it looks really cool.”

What started off as fun and trivial activities soon turned into passionate competitions for who could do them the best. For the past few months, students have been enjoying the different interpretations of these challenges.

“I really like [the Mannequin Challenge] because it’s really entertaining to see other people doing [the challenge] and to look at the different, creative things they come up with,” Hoq said.

The Mannequin Challenge has especially attracted the interest of many students due to its simple, but unique concept.

“I find it funny and cool how one day someone probably just said, ‘Hey, everyone be still, and we’ll take a video,’ [and that started the challenge],” freshman Pierre Johnson said.

A number of well-known public figures have taken the time to participate in the Mannequin Challenge as well.

“Michelle Obama did the Mannequin Challenge with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the White House,” Spanish teacher Sarah Travis said. “Here you have the leaders of the country– important people in sports and culture– doing something that people can relate to, so in a way you can feel a connection.”

Individual students have created their own interpretations, and some clubs and other organizations have participated in a challenge as a way to bond and have fun.

“Pretty much everyone is doing [the Mannequin Challenge] on Twitter,” junior Christine Tsao said. “I think it’s cool. My friends [are planning] on doing it after school. We [want to be]  standing, playing around and punching people [in our video].”

A key aspect that makes social media challenges so attractive is how easily they can be done with many groups of people.

“I’ve tried the Juju on that Beat Challenge; it was really fun to learn it and do it with my friends, and watch other people do it,” Hoq said. “There are so many different variations of it. Learning the different ways you can do it and doing it with your friends is a cool experience. It brings [people] together.”

Others, however, have not enjoyed these viral challenges as much.

“I think [the Water Bottle Challenge] is kind of dumb and annoying, so I don’t do it, but some of my friends do,” Johnson said.

Despite the varied opinions on social media challenges, one truth remains: people will continue performing different dances, poses and will share the results on social media. The rise of new social media challenges shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

“I think [social media challenges are] a way for people to feel connected,” Travis said. “Sometimes out of silliness comes human connection and something that can have importance.”