It was a normal day for Cody Burns ‘25 as he left a pickleball mixer between Phi Delta Theta and Chi Omega in October 2024. Little did he realize, his future girlfriend had been eyeing him from the sidelines.
“I didn’t think I was ever gonna get ‘Mercer crushed,” Burns said.
Mercer Crush, a popular Instagram account on campus, allows students to anonymously confess their feelings through a Google form submission. Mercer Crush has become a staple of the student body as it posts the messages multiple times per week while also periodically promoting campus events.
“Me and my friend were off to the side, just talking and joking around, and he walks by and I ask one of the brothers ‘Who is that?” former Mercer student Emily Moore recalled.
Moore’s best friend, Livvy Kerr ‘28, encouraged her to write a Mercer Crush submission.
“I made it very obvious that it was from the pickleball mixer. I said ‘Cody, from the pickleball mixer.’ and did a little emoji,” Moore said of her submission.
She also told Burns’ fraternity brother Nathan Weldon ‘26 about her feelings, which he later shared with Burns. When Burns eventually saw Moore, he said the anonymous post he had heard about started to feel real.
“It's exciting either way, you know? But then I saw her and I was like, ‘Oh, wow. She's actually really beautiful,” Burns said. “So I was like, ‘This is sick.”
Burns didn’t have social media at the time, so he had to get creative. He asked Weldon to reach out to a member of Chi Omega for Moore’s phone number. Soon after, Burns and Moore went on their first date of many, and he asked her to attend a fraternity event with him.
When Moore first submitted a Mercer crush form for Burns, the two were strangers, but they say the page allowed them to get to know each other. Today, Burns said Moore is a “very, very beautiful, very bubbly, vibrant and caring person.”
Moore is likewise enamored with Burns.
“He's sweet and genuine and a very goofy, likable person,” Moore said. “He's a curious, open minded person.”
Burns originally had strict expectations for his romantic life in college, but he said meeting Moore soon changed his perspective.
“I didn't think I was going to date in college,” Burns said. “And then I met her.”
A lineage of love
The Mercer Crush page was created by Mary Helene Hall ‘23 in October 2021. Hall passed the account down to a sorority sister of hers, beginning a tradition of Alpha Gamma Delta administrators tasked with connecting Mercer students through anonymous submissions.
Alexa Rasmussen ‘25 was the third generation account administrator, and she said she found value in the account outside of allowing students to make a bold leap towards their crush.
“There was just so much negative in the world at the time,” Rasmussen, who ran the page during her senior year from 2024-25, said. “So this was [Hall’s] way of doing it, being like, ‘Look at all the love going around, all these people having cute little crushes. There is still good in the world.”
Rasmussen commuted in her freshman year, leaving her limited time to get immersed in campus life outside of classes.
“I needed something, a reason to stay on campus,” Rasmussen said. She later accepted a bid from Alpha Gam, and “suddenly I had things to go to and a reason to hang out after class.”
Jessie Siebold ‘24, a member of Alpha Gam, originally planned to keep the tradition going by passing the account down to her sorority little, but that student transferred to nursing school. Siebold willed the account to Rasmussen instead, who found an unexpected love for the gig.
“For the first time, I knew all kinds of things about what was going on on campus,” Rasmussen said. Her favorite part about running the account was finding interesting events on campus and recommending them as date ideas to students through Instagram stories.
Per tradition, each owner has run the page anonymously until around April, when they reveal themselves and assure the student body the page will be run by a new administrator the following semester. Before then, their identity remains a mystery.
“I have the most horrible poker face ever,” Rasmussen said. “So I did my very best not to talk about it with anybody, because I was like, the minute I try and say something, my face would tell everything.”
She said her discretion was put to the test when her sorority sisters started connecting the dots that the page had historically been run by members of their own sorority.
“Everybody was sitting around being like, ‘Hey, it was two people. The first two of us were within the sorority. Who do we think it is?” Rasmussen said. “I remember trying to steer it to somebody else, being like, ‘I think that’s actually a really good point.”
The current administrator, who granted an interview to The Mercer Cluster in exchange for anonymity, said she remembers participating in this conversation, but said she had no idea Rasmussen was the true owner. Like her predecessor, the current administrator had to shield her anonymity when she learned her friend had submitted a Mercer Crush that led to a relationship.
“I do admire the people who submit crushes, especially when they are clearly about a specific person,” she said. “It's anonymous on your end, but you're still admitting to having these feelings for someone.”
Rasmussen said opinions across campus are split between people who do not put much stock into the page and those who see magic in Mercer Crush. Rasmussen herself appreciates the whimsical and romantic aspects of the anonymous forum.
“I really love the cutesy aspect of it,” Rasmussen said. “Where it’s the super fairy tale story when you saw somebody from across the way and you posted about it and somebody was able to figure out who it was and tag you, and then you got to reach out to them.”
“I feel like submitting it, you're just kind of like screaming into the void, almost like a diary, but like it's public, obviously,” the current administrator said. “It's really cute when they actually see it and then get together.”
When asked what advice the current administrator will give to the next person to carry on the Mercer Crush legacy, she asked only that they “make it a fun account.”
“I'm hopeful that the account still continues to have an impact and bring positivity to other people's lives,” Rasmussen said. “And maybe a little bit of joy.”
Moore and Burns today
The pair celebrated one year together in December, and they now commute between Atlanta and Macon to see each other. Burns said he thinks this aspect of their relationship shows promise for its future.
“I think that if you can get through a medium-distance relationship, then I feel like it's a good sign that you can last long with each other,” Burns said.
Both say the relationship has changed them.
“I feel like maybe I got a little softer,” Burns said. “I think I bring out some of that side of her as well.”
Moore shares that sentiment.
“I'm a lot more relaxed. A lot, I'd say, more levelheaded. He makes me feel reassured about myself, about my passion,” Moore said. “Most of my friends don't really align with some of the hobbies that I have, so he's the first person that I've been able to have those experiences with.”
The experience has also shifted Moore’s view of the Mercer Crush page that brought her and Burns together.
“I didn't believe in Mercer Crush,” Moore said. “I did think that everything that people put on there was really cute, but I personally thought that it was entertaining to read everything on there. That's why I contributed to that entertainment. But then it actually turned into something.”
Burns hopes their story will encourage others to put themselves out there.
“If it inspires somebody to write a crush about their crush and then lowkey tell somebody about it that they know will tell that person, and then they end up together, then I call this a win,” he said.
Olivia McNamara '26 is majoring in journalism and media studies at Mercer University. She loves visual storytelling and works as photography and videography staff for several organizations. When she isn't studying, she enjoys listening to music, going for adventures and capturing all of it with her camera.
Jacob Hossler '28 is an English and Law and Public Policy double major at Mercer University. While not serving as the Sports Editor at The Cluster, he enjoys running, writing and photography.
