Squidward Community College

About

Squidward Community College is a series of memes based on a building with Squidward's face photoshopped on it referred to as Squidward Community College. The image was first posted on X / Twitter in early December 2019 and gained viral spread over the following years, inspiring numerous viral memes and reposts. Despite efforts to locate the real building, its exact location remains unknown as of 2024.

Origin

On December 3rd, 2019, X^[1] user @snoutcam posted a photoshop of a fake Google Maps screenshot showing a building with Squidward's face photoshopped onto the front of it, the screenshot claiming the building to be "Squidward Community College," garnering over 3,500 likes in five years (shown below). A man's face can be seen in the window to the farthest left of the building.

Building Location

Attempts to find the location of the real building have been made, but none have resulted in a solid answer. The image seemingly first appeared online in an article on airforcebase.net^[2] about "Civil and Commercial Architecture," where it appeared under the "Colorado" section, but has since become unavailable.^[3] In 2024, Redditor u/Broken_Syntax_01^[4] claimed it has been noted as being near Riverside, Chicago, although this claim is unsubstantiated and unconfirmed.

A reverse image search for the building on TinEye^[5] reveals that it has been used since as early as 2017 on multiple websites as a basic example of a flat roofed home design. YouTuber wavywebsurf claims to have attempted to find the building, but was unable to locate it.^[6]

Spread

The meme gained viral spread over the following years, inspiring further memes centered around the image. It also inspired several fake websites offering enrollment, information and news about Squidward Community College, including squidwardcc.org^[7] and squidwardcc.com.^[8]

On December 7th, 2019, the meme was shared by now-deactivated Tumblr^[9] user salancholy, garnering around 20,000 notes in five years. On December 10th, YouTuber^[10] wow_mao posted a meme meant to resemble an advertisement for the college, garnering over 6.1 million views in five years (shown below).

On August 14th, 2020, a screenshot of the video thumbnail was posted to /r/ontheledgeandshit,^[11] garnering over 2,800 upvotes in four years. On January 2nd, 2022, X^[12] user @BloodsareCrips posted an image of the school, writing, "I finally decided to start college," garnering over 122,000 likes in two years (shown below, left). On February 22nd, iFunny^[13] user P00PS0CK posted a meme referencing the photoshop that gained over 22,000 smiles in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On October 9th, 2023, Instagram^[14] user needless.mp3 posted a screenshot of a post by a now-deleted X user in which they shared an image of the school along with the caption, "GOT ACCEPTED INTO MY DREAM SCHOOL OMFG," garnering over 260,000 likes in six months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References