Both the first year class and much of the sophomore class have been getting well-adjusted to the highs and lows of college life in the past month. There has also been a much smaller group getting accustomed to the Dickinson campus, in the form of a rainbow of tiny plastic babies. As you walk around campus, you will occasionally find these little folks sitting on tables around campus, at the maps looking for directions, standing around at the HUB and academic buildings, and just about anywhere else you can imagine. Recently, an Instagram page, named, “Your local plastic dson babies” (@babiesatdickinson) has been featuring the encounters students have with the newest members of the Dickinson community.

The creator and owner of the @babiesatdickinson social media account explained their thought process behind the babies and the accompanying Instagram page. The creator, who is choosing to remain anonymous, stated that a student placed small plastic babies in several academic buildings during their freshman year, and they wanted to do the same in their sophomore year. However, due to interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they could not do so until this school year.

When asked about the creation of their Instagram page, the owner stated that it came as a suggestion from a friend when they saw them starting to place babies around campus. In the two weeks since the page’s creation, the account has received a decent amount of submissions from Dickinson students spotting plastic babies throughout the school. 

“It depends on the day and if I place any around [Dickinson] while I’m out,” the creator told The Dickinsonian. They also stated that they hope to place the babies not only out in the open for people to find now, but also in obscure places around campus so that students can find them for years to come.

Reflecting on what has happened since they started this process, the owner said that their plastic babies and account is a good way to make a happy community around campus, and that “everyone seems to be into it. It gets people who wouldn’t normally talk to each other talking about these babies, and I love that.” The creator currently plans to keep hiding babies throughout Dickinson College this year, especially after receiving brand new colors in lime green, dark green, orange, and dark blue. There are also white, black, pink, hot pink, red, grey, purple, cyan, and yellow babies students can find across campus.