Chico State is known for a lot of things, a beautiful campus, heavy rain, or even loud parties—but how about its appearances across YouTube?
Search up “Chico State” on YouTube, and you might find the SusDudes, a YouTube channel started two years ago by Ethan Serzynski and Owen Duffrey, students at Sacramento State.
If you’re on campus on Fridays you may have run into these two particular young men filming themselves, and there’s no telling what they’re up to.
From pretending that the earth is flat in front of the BMU to debating if “White Claws” are overrated or not in front next to the Meriam Library: SusDudes bring their flare to campus.
Serzynski and Duffrey combine their talent while bringing something to Chico State that every campus needs; a laugh every once in a while.
“[YouTube] is something that we’ve always been interested in, and honestly our passion and dream,” Duffrey said.
“I’ve honestly wanted a YouTube channel just as long as Owen, I did acting in high school, and I love drama,” Continues Serzynski.
Q: Why did you choose to start filming at Chico State?
“It was the closest [and] best university honestly and we have a lot of friends here and we just love the vibe of the student body here at Chico, we just love the people, and we love Chico honestly,” Duffrey explains.
“Everybody has a certain goal in mind which is to spread positivity and that’s what Chico State is all about,” Serzynski continues.
Q: How has Chico State been different in comparison to other colleges that you’ve filmed at?
“People are just way friendlier here, really nice–not in a bad mood; easy to talk to,” Serzynski said.
“The campus itself is a really comfortable place to meet people and make connections,” noted Duffrey.
Q: When you go onto YouTube and type in “Chico State” one of the very first videos that pop up is a video by SusDudes. How do you think Susdudes translates the culture of Chico State?
“We’ve had incoming freshmen tell us ‘I YouTubed Chico because I was investigating the schools I wanted to attend and Chico looked so fun; the student body engaging,” Duffrey said.
“When people watch our videos, it makes the decision to come here or not easier,” explains Serzynski. “We get a lot of people who come up to us saying ‘Oh i love the videos, sometimes its educational, sometimes it’s just funny and it makes my day,” Serzynski ends.
Q: Your videos range from Q&As to pranks, but obviously your channel is more than just that. What does your channel mean to you guys and what do you think it means to your audience? Do you consider yourselves to be comedians, journalists?
“I think we’re a lot of things because that’s our goal,” Duffrey noted. “Our priority is to make people laugh because we know what it’s like to have a bad day and those few seconds where we make people laugh and forget about their day means a lot to us.”
“We want people to follow their dreams, we want them to be passionate about what they do–if you don’t want to work a 9-5 job, you don’t have to, there’s other outlets you can explore. It’s also about discovering what you want to do– even if you’re in school and you have a major and you don’t like it, life is all about loving what you do,” Serzynski added.
Q: What was your favorite video filmed at Chico State?
“The White Claws are overrated change my mind was my favorite…the verified account and CEO of White Claw actually contacted us and it was really cool to see that,” Duffrey recounted.
“For me it was the flat earth video…just because like how so much is happening in our world with politics, we kind of make fun or certain things, make people laugh, and take away the seriousness,” remembers Serzynski.
You can catch the Susdudes at their fan meetup Friday, Nov. 7th on the concrete steps by the BMU or follow them on Instagram @susdudesofficial and their YouTube channel: SusDudes.
Kimberly Morales can be reached at [email protected] or @kimberlymnews on Twitter.
