All great ideas come from somewhere, for one North Penn Senior, it was a McDonald’s parking lot. 

If you have ever been scrolling through Instagram you may have come across the account @barstoolsports. As of this school year, North Penn now has their very own Pres. In August, Pat Breen created the North Penn Barstool account (@northpennbarstool). He doesn’t have the 12 million followers  yet… but numbers are climbing! 

One day, Breen was sitting in a Mcdonald’s parking lot with his friends when he came up with the idea for the NP Barstool Instagram account.

“Me and my friends went to McDonald’s and we were just sitting in the parking lot when we came up with the idea. We spam followed a bunch of people and after like three days we had three hundred followers and it just kept growing and growing,” explained Breen.

With no expectations of the account blowing up, the page now has over 1,000 followers and continues to grow every day. As the fall sports season comes to a close and almost all the teams covered by @northpennbarstool, this page is where many loyal followers at North Penn now go for their weekly sports updates. 

“Once we started posting sports people started to really like that, people started reposting and liking our posts,” Pres stated. 

One of the purposes of the NP barstool account is to give recognition to sports players. To do this, Breen selects a player of the game who he thinks stood out the most and played with heart. After each game, the POTG takes a seat on the blue wooden stool known as “The Stool.” They then shake the Pres’s hand for a picture that will be featured on the account.

“As an athlete myself, it is special to get recognition for playing a sport; it’s exciting,” Breen said.

With North Penn Barstool being so popular throughout the High School it was only a matter of time before the idea spread throughout the district. Taking inspiration from Pres, Penndale Middle School and Gwyn Nor Elementary School debuted their very own barstool accounts not too long after Breen’s account blew up.

Although Breen loves to see it throughout the North Penn School District he has had some copycats in neighboring districts.

“As you have probably seen Wissahickon Barstool made an account and there’s definitely some beef going on with them because they’ve copied everything we do, I’m just waiting for a game where we play Wiss so everyone can go, and it is just crazy,” Breen noted.  

Pres is at almost all the sports games. He tries his best to be at every game and support all athletics. Not only does Breen give recognition to sports teams but he also shows spirit for our Marching Knights and shouts out their accomplishments as well.

“I try to make time for it, I feel like it is important to support other sports teams. We try to be very inclusive and get to all sports,” Breen shared. 

But this account isn’t a one-man show, with Breen’s busy schedule it is impossible for him to be at every game. The account is co-run by Luke Patterson and Jack Gorham. 

Breen is doing an exceptional job bringing the students together and getting them excited about sports. While the concept of the Instagram account may have been born from a major account that already exists, the school spirit and unity through the district that Breen has engendered is clear.

Make sure you go give “da Pres” a follow @northpennbarstool on Instagram.

NOTE: This student run account which promotes sportsmanship and camaraderie at North Penn High School events, is in no way affiliated with any other Instagram account or any other individual who runs other Instagram accounts. This account is intended for positivity, school spirit, and good natured camaraderie for the NPHS student community.