Street: Were you a precocious pre–frosh always pumped to run for student government?
Jonathon Youshaei: No! I honestly thought it would be an awesome way to meet people as a freshman stuck in King’s Court. And I had a world of respect for the senior class president at the time. I think I got elected because of the of the Huntsman community.
Street: What was your best slogan?
JY: Probably freshman year: “Every vowel for every voice.” Because my name has every vowel, get it?
Street: What’s your secret to balancing all of your campus commitments?
JY: Power naps.
Street: You’ve taken Penn by storm as class president for four years running. What are your postgrad plans?
JY: I’ll be working at Google in product marketing. I interned there last summer. I think Google’s one of the best companies in the world. And the Doodle of the Day was once a link to the Penn Fight Song!
Street: Have you always been a Google guy?
JY: I remember Ask Jeeves for Kids and Yahooligans! Floppy drives and Oregon Trail. Those were the good old days. But now, Chrome is my browser. Bar none.
Street: What’s your guilty pleasure?
JY: Sweetgreen. But I feel no guilt.
Street: We hear you can chitchat in four languages. Do tell!
JY: Well, I’m Jewish and proudly Persian, so I speak Farsi, Hebrew, Arabic and English.
Street: Who’s your alter ego?
JY: Joey Tribbiani from “Friends,” also of the spinoff show “Joey.” Why did it get cancelled?! He has grey hair now. Also Chelsea Handler. She’s so funny.
Street: Actually, Matt LeBlanc dyed his hair all throughout “Friends.” So your alter ego is like a silver fox that is the lovechild of Joey and Chelsea Handler?
JY: Yes! Wow, what a couple. And they’d have to have their first date at a Persian restaurant, a Persian BYO on campus.
Street: Feb Club starts tomorrow! What are you most excited about?
JY: Before it was a 28–day event, but now it’s the four weeks of February, inspired by the four years of college: freshman week, sophomore week and so on. I’m especially excited for our “21st birthday party” on February 21, during junior week at Vango Skybar.
Street: What would senior class president Jonathan tell freshman class president Jonathan?
JY: Be quirky, be foolish and don’t
take yourself so seriously. Isn’t quirky a cool word? I feel like it’s in vogue, you know?
Street: What has been your greatest challenge as class president?
JY: The most serious challenge I’ve faced is getting that campus Persian BYO on the map. But also the idea of taking traditions to another level and connecting us to alumni. Innovating Skimmer was a big challenge that we were unexpectedly amazed by. A lot of work, but I could not have asked for a better thing to do over four years.
Street: Describe yourself in five words or less.
JY: Once you go Persian, there ain’t no conversion. That’s not five words, is it?
Street: There are two types of people at Penn…
JY: The people that love Sweetgreen and the people who secretly love Sweetgreen. As I mentioned, I’m in the former category.
