Becca Shemenski ‘28
How does a seven-foot-tall mascot go missing one day? That has been the question on a great number of Gordon College students’ minds for the past year. Scottie has been missing from campus and hasn’t been seen since late last year. Day in and day out we walk through the footprints Scottie has left behind; we find rest in his lingering shadow. Yet for the past year, no one has grazed their eyes on that beautiful, grey face. The mascot’s last known interaction was ironically his most recent Facebook post, posted on May 1st, 2024.
“I haven’t seen the guy in a while”, said Richmond Obeng ‘25, the Mascot Program’s Coordinator. As the “middle-man” between Scottie and campus, Obeng is a close friend to Scottie where they even share their calendars. However, not even Obeng hasn’t heard from him in a while. “The last time I saw him was about 4:50pm on June 20th, 2024.”
There is an ongoing investigation not just with the mascot program, but also Gordon Police, Student Life, and the athletics departments. “Last time I heard, he was supposed to be going to see some family, but I haven’t heard back from him since.” They’re currently investigating where his family lives. As we know, he is Scottish, so there’s some investigation on his family homestead and whether he actually showed up like he said he would or not.
“We’re hoping to be able to get some information about that… but the investigation is taking much longer than we expected, which is why people have not seen much of him… we’re trying not to cause a lot of panic among students.” The investigation started after Homecoming this past October after Scottie was expected to make an appearance but failed to show.
“Scottie, before he left, introduced me to one of his family members and we had a really nice conversation. It was a real joy, but since then I haven’t heard from him. I’m still in contact with that family member. We tried reaching out to him, but he hasn’t heard much from [Scottie] as well.”
Is this family member, his “late cousin, or something like that”, somehow involved? Where did he go? Was seeing his family a cover-up story? Or did he intend on visiting them, but something happened along his way that prevented him from going? Has his family heard or seen him?
“We’re still in an investigation process…we’ll give that information out once we have that.” Obeng is hopeful that they’ll be able to find him or at least contact him soon.
However, when asked if Scottie is confirmed to come back, he responded with an answer that made my heart sink to my stomach. “We don’t know… it depends on how the investigation goes, if they find him, and if they figure out what happened to him,” Obeng responded.
If Scottie is out there reading this, “I would want him to know that we love him here at Gordon… Wherever he is, I hope he does come back because we really do miss him. He’s such a bundle of joy and he brings so much joy, not just to me but lots and lots of people.”
Should we be worried? When will we see our beloved Scottie again? Is Scottie ok? They always ask where Scottie is, but never how Scottie is. Maybe that’s the question we need to start asking.
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