Anonymous West Bloomfield Students Spread Cheer Through Facebook

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Students at West Bloomfield High School are taking the spirit of "Laker pride" for their classmates, teachers and school online this week, using anonymous comments posted on Facebook simply to spread cheer.

Since its start on Monday by anonymous users who say they are students at the school, West Bloomfield HS Compliments has ballooned to more than 350 "friends."

"This page has been made in the hopes of brightening everyone's day," reads the description on Facebook. Nearly 50 students have received a shout-out as of Wednesday night, some taken from anonymous submissions.

The students who are keeping their identities secret, "so people feel more comfortable submitting," said they have received more than 100 submissions in one of many uplifting comments. 

Compliments range from sweetly sincere ("you will do whatever it takes to reach for your goals, and I look up to you for that") to silly fun ("you're better than a herd of chocolate unicorns") and involve teachers as well as students.

The site is inspired by a Nov. 29 Time magazine story which profiled users of similar sites that came from university students first in Canada, then the United States and Europe beginning in mid-September.

The Time story points out that the trend of compliments sites sits opposite college gossip websites that have "gone viral" in recent years, such as the notoriously-vicious JuicyCampus.com.