Brothers embrace “nerd” label

Maybe you know him from his “Crash Course” educational videos, or from one of his award winning teen fiction novels. Or, maybe you know him because you are a Nerdfighter.

John Green, an American author and video blogger (vlogger) and his brother, Hank, have created over a thousand vlogs corresponding back and forth to each other in a series called Brother 2.0. The brothers have gained a network of fans via YouTube called Nerdfighters.

“A Nerdfighter is a person that instead of being made out of bones and skin and tissue is made entirely of awesome,” said John in one of his vlogs.

Matt Carter, junior and an active Nerdfighter, has seen almost all of the Green’s videos and has read a majority of John’s books.

Unlike the common misconception, a Nerdfighter does not actually fight nerds.

“A Nerdfighter is being proud of being a nerd and being part of the community that watch the Vlogbrothers,” Carter said.

The Vlogbrothers say that being a Nerdfighter is for anyone no matter how young or old they are. They created a hand signal to both great fellow Nerdfighters and communicate to others that they are Nerdfighters. The brother’s also trended the saying, Don’t forget to be awesome (DFTBA).

“To become a Nerdfighter one must watch a couple videos and then decide that you identify as a Nerdfighter,” Carter said.

Beyond Brotherhood 2.0, the vlog brothers have founded a lot of other projects such as Project for Awesome, where YouTube vloggers and viewers promote their favorite charity and raise money that is then donated to a variety of charities. The Vlogbrothers also started VidCon, which is the largest event for YouTube vloggers and fans to interact with each other and learn more about vlogging.

“They are good at what they do and they keep on doing it. John writes his books and they are always good. They keep on doing what they like even when it’s hard to do,” Carter said

Rae Akinsanya and Rowan Ellis, juniors, got to experience VidCon first hand.

“It was probably one of the most fun weekends I have ever had,” Akinsanya said. “In November or December of last year, Rowan and I were just watching some of the old videos from VidCon 2012 and we were like ‘let’s try and go.’ I presented it to my mom and she was for it.”

Akinsanya received the VidCon and plane tickets as a late birthday present from her family. The girls waited in a long line of fans to meet Epic Meal Time’s Harley Morenstein.

“He was one of the funniest people I met. He was hilarious and really personable,” Akinsanya said.

She also met FoodForLouis, Philip DeFranco, and a variety of other Youtubers.

“We had such a good experience that we are going again in 2014. I’m looking forward to being able to do more stuff now that we know the area and what we want to do,” Akinsanya said.

YouTube sensations are constantly entainting and influencing HHS students. And, whether a Nerdfighter or not, DFTBA.