Meet the faces behind the “girlboss” Drexel Affirmations account
By Brooklyn Fellner
Three third-year undergrads have the Drexel meme market in a stranglehold.
Cassidy Keehan, Pam Temcharoen and Grace Castle are the admins of the popular @drexelaffirmations account featuring comedic commentary on Drexel student life, with over 3,000 followers as of June 2021.
The account started early in 2021 when the three women were inspired by the numerous “affirmation” style memes that were very popular at the time by other Instagram accounts. What once started out as a famous Gen Z-targeted Instagram account, @affirmations turned quickly into a meme.
“We thought, ‘Oh my god.’ This is genius… After that day we thought that we need to make @drexelaffirmations,” Castle said when she noticed localized versions of their favorite affirmations accounts, such as @templeaffirmations.
These formats often featured photos with dreamy filters paired with text that reflected the everyday struggles of students.
“We were already affirming throughout our everyday lives. I remember so vividly: we were walking around and we said ‘we need to start manifesting that we have activities to do at night so we get all of our work done during the day,” Temcharoen added.
A few of the earlier memes featured on @drexelaffirmations include “I do not regret my Welcome Week hookups” and “I am the sexiest person in Heirloom.”
The account evolved into more free-format memes as well.
“We wanted to make it more personal,” Keehan noted on the evolution of the content @drexelaffirmations.
The memes featured on the account became more free-flowing after they posted about how “relatable” lantern flies can be, especially for people who are, “highly invasive and destructive but kind of pretty.”
“I feel like there has been a renaissance of Drexel meme pages since we started the account. Before we started, there was @barstooldrexel, @drexelmemes and @drexelafterdark. I think they have some funny things but it was mostly really mainstream,” Castle said.
“It’s the type of [stuff] straight men post… something you would find on Reddit…We targeted a very niche audience, like queer people and people who like Taylor Swift,” Temcharoen said.
The admins are unsure if they want to pass down their legacy (or password) to a new generation of @drexelaffirmations, stating it would be interesting to leave it as a time capsule.
“We do have freshmen that we are actually in love with… not romantically,” Keehan said when discussing the possibility of passing along the account.
“It blossomed into friendship,” Temcharoen added.
Of course, @drexelaffirmations does not support hazing of any kind; however, if they do choose new admins, they plan on indoctrinating them by having them participate in their “Drexel Alert Talent Show.”
The women also added that they believe that campus involvement is “in,” elaborating on their opinion that people do not show enough love for their school.
“It’s important to say that a lot of the inspiration for this account is the fact that we genuinely love Drexel. Drexel has so much negativity in its culture,” Castle said.
“I don’t like when people actively hate Drexel,” Temcharoen said.
“My first day at Drexel as a freshman, we were in our RA meeting and she said to everyone: ‘The first thing you need to know is there is no such thing as Drexel pride.’ Why would you say that to a bunch of freshmen? We are bringing back positivity on campus!” Castle said.
To “girlboss” your way through the summer term and keep the Drexel spirit alive, the admins recommend you follow these ins and outs for the next few months:
in
New Deck Tavern mega mule
playing f*ck marry kill
being involved on campus
Drexel merch
DAC pool
Hagerty library
night walks
gossiping
photobooths
bathing suits at Drexel park
a cappella
*editor’s note: the triangle*
out
ACC
covid-19
greek life
online classes
other meme accounts
caffeine dependency
fake IDs
situationships
Temple hookups
construction on campus
Drexel student health