“Run as fast as you can away from the school they won’t catch us all,” “I feel like we’re getting marched to a concentration camp,” and “the walk was definitely part of a satanic ritual” were all quotes posted through the app “Yik Yak” during the required walk around Barnstable High School for the entire school community to read. Anyone who had downloaded the app could have access to the Yaks. However, the twist; everything was completely anonymous.

Launched in 2013 by Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington of Fuhrman University, Yik Yak allows users to anonymously post and reply to yaks under a 200 word limit and each post can only be seen within a 1.5 mile radius of where a user is located. Each user is given a score (yarkarma) based on how much he or she posts and how poplar their posts become. A tap up or down allows for other users within the radius to like or dislike each post with yaks of -5 deleted off the feed. The rules are simple according to the app: “Do not bully or target other yakers, do not post personal information and do not post offensive yaks.”

But with recent banning of Yik Yak on nearly 15 high school and college campuses, including Norwich University of Vermont and Lincoln High School in Rhode Island due to anonymous bomb threats, bullying and safety issues, the app has increasingly created lasting damaging effects on schools and their communities. “[Yik Yak] is hurting my students right now. They are feeling awkward, they are feeling hurt, they are feeling threatened,” said Richard Schneider, President of Norwich University in an interview with the Huffington Post.

Created with the intention of having a “virtual bulletin board” for anonymous postings, specifically for college campuses, the app allows for a medium to announce schedule changes, party details and location specific information to a nearby audience. Droll and Brooks also intended to restrict high school students from using Yik Yak by creating an age restriction of 17+ and a barrier for anyone trying to connect to the app within a high school. However, without parental restrictions on media devices, anyone can still download the app and many areas of the school can still access Yik Yak. As we saw in Yik Yak’s predecessors, “ask.fm” and more locally the anonymous “Cape Cod Confessions” Twitter account, “vehicles for cyberbullying are hard to convince people not to use,” said Principal of BHS, Patrick Clark.

The app is continuing to cause controversy throughout the nation and BHS students and teachers have recently sparked an interest and animosity towards the college app. “My blood is boiling about Yik Yik. It’s hurtful and malicious and it teaches kids that they don’t have to take responsibility,” said Karen Gauthier, guidance counselor at BHS. And its emotional effects are spreading to the entire student body. “I know people who have been affected by it in a bad way. It’s just people being jerks and saying mean things that are meant to hurt people,” said Molly Autrey, freshman at BHS.

But after a recent meeting among the homeroom representatives and Principal Patrick Clark, the app was placed under the supervision of the students to monitor any cyberbullying and attempt to stop other students from using the app. “Monitoring the app isn’t a school task. It makes for an uncomfortable social situation among the parents, the student, and the administration. However, the technology department is aware and measures are being taken for it not to be used,” stated Clark. As of now, the app isn’t completely anonymous as the app has to be downloaded through a specific identified account with a name and number. “Other communities who have dealt with Yik Yak have landed in court,” added Clark.

In a more recent article with the Huffington Post, Buffington stated “It’s disheartening seeing our app used in an unintended way. We don’t want to see more negative events become the face of our company.” But despite the original benefits of the app, updated restriction improvements and apologies, “the app does not belong in a high school setting; blocking the app is the best option for BHS. It provides a nothing but a disservice to our students,” said Barbara Gleason, social issues teacher who had to expand her cyberbullying nit from one day to an entire week in the past few years due to apps such as Yik Yak, Twitter and Ask.fm.