Senior Ryan Silver was named College Board’s acorn of the Week Feb. 10. Silver’s photo and a caption detailing his accomplishments were featured on the College Board’s Instagram page. 

Each week, the College Board chooses one acorn of the week from the various submissions that they receive. The College Board aims to highlight the successes of AP students. Some of Ryan’s achievements include being a straight-A student, getting into his dream college of Duke University, being captain of the Varsity Ultimate Frisbee team and serving on the student board of directors for the federal reserve in St. Louis. Ryan was nominated by his twin sister Katie Silver as a practical joke. 

“She, as a joke, DMed the College Board and said to them that her brother should win Acorn of the Week, and I am the brother,” Ryan said. “It was a moment of shock, I would say. It was a moment of surprise.”

When Katie found out that Ryan won, she sprinted down the stairs screaming “he won!” Ryan had no idea that Katie had nominated him, so the award was a surprise.

“My mom started laughing a lot and my brother just stood there in shock, like ‘what have you done to me,’” Katie said. 

Katie was very intentional about her choice of photo when submitting her nomination. A lot of thought went into the selection process. 

“I was thinking to myself, how would the College Board buy this was a real thing,” Katie said. “So I thought, I need to find a picture where it looks serious enough that the College Board is going to think I’m serious but also stupid enough to where it embarrasses my brother.”

Really wanting to ensure everyone knew about Ryan’s accomplishment, Katie took it upon herself to print out Ryan’s acorn of the week award and hang it in the majority of Ryan’s classes. Over 40 of Ryan’s friends also reposted the award on their stories. The College Board’s Instagram post has since garnered over 2,100 likes and 60 comments. 

“My favorite comments were ‘I can’t even get out of bed in the morning’ — 73 likes,” Ryan said. [I also liked] ‘seems like a great leader, unlike the CEO of College Board’ — 74 likes.”

All in all, this was a good-natured joke between siblings. Ryan is now permanently featured on the College Board’s verified Instagram page and has gained a viable experience for the many two truths and a lie games he is bound to play in college. 

“I wasn’t mad at her at all,” Ryan said. “I was just like, ‘this is going to be a really good story when I get over the embarrassment of this.’”