You might know Josh McKenzie as the Associate Director for NSFP/Director of First-Year Experience, but for the class of 2020, he's also an iconic meme. We sat down with McKenzie to discuss his meme status, his appreciation for it (or lack thereof) and his experience leading up to and during Wildcat Welcome 2016 with his newfound unofficial role. Transcript below.
Transcript:
Hey everyone, welcome to Ask NBN, I’m Paola de Varona and today we’re going to be talking about the famous Josh McKenzie.
“Give me my dorm Josh. Also they’re not called dorms, they’re called res. halls. Also this forget Kanye, Josh McKenzie for POTUS 2020.”
That was Josh McKenzie reading several of many facebook jokes made about him in the Northwestern’s class of 2020 Facebook group. Now, we all know McKenzie as the person with all the answers to our burning questions we had before arriving on Northwestern’s campus, but the class of 2020 sees McKenzie in a different light, they know him as a popular meme. Although Mckenzie has been in his current role at Northwestern for three years, he’s never achieved such meme status with any incoming class before. So we have to ask, what did he do differently and where did this newfound internet fame come from? I spoke with Josh McKenzie himself to figure out what he thought brought about the emergence of his meme status.
“I just try to be super, I try to be helpful. Students, rightfully so, have a lot of questions when you come in so I think we really try to be helpful in answering some of those questions. But for whatever reason this year in particular was a little interesting of how different people attached on to that. So I think it was when y’all were doing housing, I feel like it was then when y’all started getting super rude. I’m just kidding. Y’all just had a lot of opinions and thoughts and I got dragged into some of that and I tried to say no go on me. But I think it was at that point, it was at that point I was like I’m not really feeling comfortable.”
So where does he think the popularity spurred from?
“Well I think it goes back to for sure in the past two years in particular because before that we did it a little bit differently, but in particular we always try to answer questions. And then once you have someone that you know, oh I feel like they have the right answer, ––popularity feels like a weird word to describe it as hopefully it’s trusted–– I try to give a good answer and the right answer and try not to put too much B.S. in it. So I hope that’s the reason not just I don’t know for something else.
Josh McKenzie isn’t all too sure himself why he became the token meme of the class of 2020. So I spoke to an active Facebook group member and Northwestern freshman, David Guirgis, about what he thought the group’s intentions were.
“It was a fun thing to do to pass the time and I’m only speaking referring to the housing crisis because apparently that's what really got me my attention. A lot of people just in general just did it because it was a fun thing to do. Like people really wanted to you know make themselves known in the page because this was the new community they were going to be a part of. They wanted to like get to know everybody and like Northwestern just happened to be like a really cool community of people who like to, they’re really good natured and like to have fun at others people's expense without actually trying to hurt them. I guess people did it because Josh McKenzie was so personable on Facebook that at first everybody thought he was an upperclassmen. Like for a second I know I thought he was like the class president like the ASG president or something. So because he was so like approachable on media people just took that as you know what, you’re going to become a meme, you’re going to become like the legend of the Facebook page.”
So can you explain to me what being a meme is like for the rest of us who have never necessarily experienced that?
“So I am, by nature which is different probably then some people on external would think, I’m kinda a little more introverted by nature. And so I don’t necessarily, so attention sometimes makes me super nervous which is why also when people would come up to me in Wildcat Welcome I would be super uncomfortable. Not because I didn’t want to meet them because I really do. And that’s why I really love working here that’s why I really love the work that we do and why I think it's really important is because of you and because of y’all. But then it just kinda feels strange a little bit on top of that. So I think that sometimes that comes across as rude. Hopefully it doesn’t but I think it does. So I did think it was funny though, especially it was that Friday, that Friday that the housing stuff was supposed to come out. So as soon as like 12:01 am hit, y’all went all kinds of crazy and the group in particular it really like was just really wanting to know which I think is of course understandable and exciting. But that’s the main day that really things really started happening and I was also the only person in the office that day so it just so happened to be not only was that happening, but we were also getting a ton of calls. And certainly we do not manage that process whatsoever, but anyway so that was just a really interesting day and a little overwhelming to a sense, but I thought it was really funny. I was texting my friends as well just because they know me and how I am, so they felt me for a little bit and how I felt within there. I think it was more so the picture I had on my personal facebook that was then memed of me being elf on the shelf from a past year and that was the point where I was like whoa where is this coming from like I’m so confused. Hopefully they don’t just see me as some weirdo crazy person, but hopefully they see me as someone who hopefully cares and wants to provide some good answers.”
Guirgis said it could get awkward when people came up to you just because they saw your posts on Facebook. So by being quote-unquote Facebook famous himself he seemed to understand some of the uncomfort McKenzie felt.
“Like I’m sure Josh McKenzie hates it and I totally get it and I’m very sorry, but also like it was fun.”
Many of these memes involved students questioning whether Josh was even a real person. David told me he was and still is scared to approach McKenzie. So it really begs to question, whether this whole emergence of jokes affected Josh’s relationship with students.
“I think what was most interesting was during Wildcat Welcome in particular, meeting a lot of students and y’all also wanting to meet sometimes, take photos as well. And I think for me because the way I approach my work is just very, I just care very much about the work that we do. And sometimes I would just be nervous and this is more so like an internal, some internal stuff, but I was more so nervous sometimes with meeting students and building those relationships. Like why do y’all want to meet me is it more so like because I think it's funny or were we actually able to be helpful in some way, shape, form or fashion. So I think during Wildcat Welcome that was an interesting way to meet and building relationships because I think as a lot of people were putting it, oh wow you are a real person so that’s cool Iguess it was cool that they're finally finding out that I am a real person. But for sure it took some time for some people some of the students that I’ve been meeting a little more regularly with or chatting with kind of some of their narrative has been “I was nervous to talk to u because so many other people talked you up in that way or like I wasn’t sure if u were a real person who actually cared” and just thinking those are just words that are on a Facebook group or email or whatever else. I think that’s what initially made me a little sad within there, but I think it has really helped hopefully in highlighting well we’re an office and an office of people who really want to do whatever we can to help you have some type of a good little time in your first year.”
Josh cares immensely about the work he does and the students he is able to impact. Watching students change and develop and being a part of that process is why he loves what he does. He has a gorgeous dog Skylar that greeted me at the entrance to his office and he loves to travel back home to Alabama.
It’s easy to forget the person behind the meme, but Josh McKenzie is way more than his 2020 Facebook group meme status.
“I had a phenomenal time with y’all and still do meeting a lot of y’all throughout the course of this quarter too. Hopefully you had a good laugh or something along, especially within the Facebook group, even if it was at my expense. But I think I feel super blessed I think to be here and to do what we get to do.”
The music in this episode is courtesy of bensound.com.
I’m Paola de Varona and this is Ask NBN.