In a historic cohort, four Columbia students have received the prestigious distinction of Yakman Scholar, an award conferred to undergraduates who display particular skill and dedication to the art of posting on Sidechat. The three students, Ray Jebate, Ash Idposter, and Dom S. Queschan, will each be awarded a $50,000 scholarship to continue their pursuits of Sidechat excellence.
Ray Jebate, CC ‘26, says his personal style of Sidechatting consists of “discourse farming” and “engagement baiting.” He’s known for his use of bad-faith polls and the occasional act of tremendous bigotry to ensure interactions on his post. “Whether you love me or hate me, you’re scrolling on my feed and you’re getting so angry you forget you’re on the toilet,” said Jebate, who currently boasts an impressive -1300 karma.
Ash Idposter, BC ‘27, takes a different approach to Sidechat community building. She diligently collects memes from Twitter and Instagram and translates them to Sidechat’s format by posting them on Sidechat without credit. “My goal is to bring people together and to share a platform for other creators,” said Idposter, “particular other creators’ Tweets about current events.” Idposter plans to use her scholarship to launch a YouTube channel in which she reacts to popular TikToks.
Dom S. Queschan, CC ‘29, is an investigative Sidechatter whose personal style involves asking obvious, extremely Googleable questions on the anonymous messaging app. “I think it’s so important to acknowledge just how little we really know,” Queschan told The Spec, “that’s why I go on Sidechat asking things like ‘When is spring break?’ or ‘Where is Wien?’ or ‘snowing outside rn?’” After hearing the news that he would receive the grant, Queschan immediately turned to Sidechat, posting “just got $50k! tryna celebrate, does anyone know of any restaurants?”
