The Origin Story of @Dawsoncollegememes

The Origin Story of @Dawsoncollegememes.

By Kevin Labossière, aka @dawsoncollegememes

Contributor

Well, after being asked by literally everyone at the Plant to make an article about this, I finally gave in and decided to make this.

Hi! My name is Kevin. I’m a second-year student at Dawson, in General, Social Science. I am the creator and owner of Dawsoncollegememes on Instagram.

As I am writing this, the page currently stands at 1,824 followers… wow. How did it come to this, and what has come from this? Well, let me explain how it all started.

I created the page on September 15th, 2020, as a joke really. I was messing around in my online psychology class (as usual) and continued switching backgrounds while pulling jokes left and right. Then, someone in the chat said, “Kevin definitely has a meme page” and that just struck a chord with me. Back in high school, we also had our own meme page. I didn’t run it/create it, but it did lead me to wondering whether Dawson College had a meme page. Spoiler alert: it did not. So, I created the page just to mess around, made a meme, and BAM, took less than one day to reach 100 followers, then it just kept piling up. September 20th, 500 followers.

Then came the worst teachers’ tournament, then came the collabs with The Plant, different college services, activities, the Student Council/Executive elections… It became a standing ground for Dawson. (I’d like to mention that DSU would most likely collab, but for some reason they don’t want to repost memes?)

Of course, I’m getting ahead of myself, but the iconic Blue Doge with the Glasses (made by current VP of Internal Affairs & Operations Abril Meza, who is a sweetheart btw) was a face of Dawson. In a couple months, it became a source of entertainment for students to relate and laugh at while being stuck on Zoom for most of their classes. It kind of died of during the summer (for obvious reasons) but when we finally came back on campus, it got even bigger. This led to opportunities that I would’ve never expected to happen to me.

One day, I was approached by the VP of Internal Affairs and Operations, Abril Meza, if I wanted to help during Frosh week as a DSU volunteer. Of course, I said yes-- quite the opportunity I’m getting! This led me to really achieving a goal that I would’ve never imagined when I first posted a meme back in 2020. It opened doors that would’ve never been opened if it wasn’t for the page.

Since coming to campus, I have met so many great people, made connections and related to people and felt at home for the first time in a while. High school was tough for me, and seeing people that could relate to me while building a community around a single meme page is incredible. The page led to me being in the Campus & Events Operations Committee as Creative Director, which basically means that I’m part of the group that organises most of the on-campus events, collaborating with CLL and such.

Looking back at when I created the meme page, I did not expect it to blow up, or even get new students to make pages that post other types of memes/content that are Dawson related. @dawsoncollegeaffirmations and @spottedawson are two that come to mind instantly. Instead of making it a competition, we built a community made by students, for students. I’ve kept my identity (mostly) secret until recently; Most people know who I am at this point.

I was recently diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and the tremendous support I get every day from friends, the people I surround myself with, and followers that give me nothing but love, has really changed my life. I might just be a guy that makes memes, and even if it doesn’t show, I appreciate every single person that DMs me, comments, likes or interacts with the page. It might seem stupid since it’s virtual, but connecting with so many people that relate solely through memes is awesome. I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the page and continues to interact with it to this day. Whether it’s new followers or day ones, you have a special place in my heart, and honestly, it’s one of the reasons I take around 3 hours of total commute every day to go to Dawson.

Love y’all!

-Kevin, aka @dawsoncollegememes.