If you’re a student, faculty member, or even family member at iUniversity Prep, you’ve most likely heard of iUPrepMemes. Dedicated to providing hilarious content to the iUP community, the account consistently posts hilarious, #relatable memes that anyone who goes to iUP or does school online can enjoy.

The account is run by a 16-year-old senior at iUniversity Prep. She started the account in September of 2017, and it was an immediate hit! I was able to slide into her DMs and get an exclusive interview with the girl behind the legendary account, a good friend of mine: Kate Stetson, aka @waddupitsdogboi, aka @iUPrepMemes. The following is an excerpt from our conversation.

Thank you for speaking with me! This account has pretty quickly become well-known and loved by iUPrep students and faculty. What motivated you to open this account?

I was a new student at iUPrep and I really like memes, so I thought it would be a cool way to make friends.

Very cool! Is there a funny story behind that, or a specific meme?

There wasn’t a specific meme that started it, but my old school was very strict and against social media and memes, so when I switched to iUPrep, I needed to share the meme ideas I had collected over time!

I see! A little bit of freedom in the virtual world, then. Now, for any of our readers who aren’t as internet-culture-savvy as you and me, what is a meme? What do you think makes memes such a connecting point for iUPrep students?

Well, the term “meme” was actually coined by Richard Dawkins, to explain how cultural information spreads. An internet meme is sort of like a joke that spreads and evolves rapidly through the internet. I think they connect students so well because students from iUPrep are found all over the state, but one thing in common is that we all access our education through the internet, so it only makes sense that memes would be our way of having inside jokes or funny moments.

Very true! I’m a lover of memes myself, and have even submitted a couple for the account. What inspired you to start taking submissions?

It takes a lot of work to create a meme, and I wanted to allow more people to be involved in the account, so accepting submissions seemed like the next logical step to take!

Awesome! I don’t blame you, with your workload! If I’m correct, you’re only 16, but taking on a heavy class load so you can graduate with the class of 2019?

Yep!

Tough stuff! This account has definitely grown in popularity and inspired several friendships, despite your anonymous beginnings. Did you plan to reveal your identity, or did that happen more spontaneously?

I had a lot of people message me through the account wanting to be friends, and teachers wondering who ran the account. I wasn’t sure when I wanted to reveal my identity, but I knew that I wanted to do it eventually.

What made you decide to do it when you did (and do you recall when that was)?

A lot of people were messaging me asking if they knew me, and there were even people impersonating the account, so I wanted to clarify that I ran it! I gave it my personal account when iUPrep Memes reached 100 followers.

Wow! Looks like you found a great milestone for it, though I’m very sorry people were doing that. Now I’m sure everyone’s wondering—with you graduating so soon, what will happen to the account?

I’m not sure yet. I think I’ll either give the account to an upperclassman to run or I’ll keep it and use it for memes at my college.

Nice! I’m sure everyone’s hoping it will live on! What’s your favorite thing about running this account?

I like that I’m able to spread humor and happiness to people throughout the school. At meet-the-teacher night, people were coming up to me, asking to meet me, which was pretty cool.

That is very cool! So, would you say you’ve achieved your original goal of spreading joy and making friends?

I’d say so 😀

That’s so great. Well, is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about you, your memes or your account?

Yes, please send in memes as we’re currently in a meme drought.

You got it!

You heard it here, folks! Go check out @iUPrepMemes on Instagram! The DM’s are open to meme submissions that are related to iUPrep/Online school, original, free of foul language, and aren’t mean/promote bad stuff. If you’re a lover of fresh memes, cool content, and Gen-Z-licious humor, scroll on down the ‘gram and check it out!

Click to check out @iUPrepMemes:

www.instagram.com/iuprepmemes

Click to ask Kate a question:

iUPrepMemes.sarahah.com/