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Duke Blue Devil mascot
Do you have what it takes?
Former Blue Devil Cate Schick opened up on TikTok about her experiences as Duke University's mascot and revealed the unexpected way she got the sought-after, spirited job her freshman year.
For starters, Schick made known that she was her high school's mascot her senior year. While she only held the job for a brief period of time, she rocked the costume at gigs like pep rallies and sporting events.
"Our high school was really good at sports, so I put it on a few times for football and basketball, definitely not nearly as intensive as Duke... but it was just something that got me in the mindset," she recalled in the clip.
Schick said she was applying to Duke around the time she took on those mascot responsibilities.
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Duke Blue Devils mascot
"I actually wrote in my 'Why Duke' essay that I wanted to live in K-ville, be super active in school spirit — and jokingly, that I wanted to be the first female Blue Devil," she explained. "I've actually since learned that I'm not the first and I definitely won't be the last."
"So I got to Duke my freshman year and I was actually caught up in making friends and the whole fitting into college thing that I kind of forgot about wanting to be the mascot," the then first-year student said, revealing she joined the swing dance team upon settling in.
"I would always tell my friends there, 'Wouldn't it be so funny if I was the Blue Devil?'" she remembered. "Fast forward to the end of the year and turns out one of my senior friends on my dance team was actually the Blue Devil and jokingly told me about how he actually became the Blue Devil."
Upon learning that fun fact from her dance pal, Schick said the reality of becoming the mascot she'd always dreamt about became "much more realistic" than she had imagined. Serious about it, he connected her with the coach and inquired about the role in her sophomore year.
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Duke Blue Devils mascot
"She gave me some details about mascot tryouts and I showed up one day to the gym and I was given a first screen," Schick remembered of the audition specific to Duke at the time, noting that there were "a couple rounds" when being considered.
"Basically they want to makes sure that you fit the persona... They also want to make sure that, physically speaking you can run around in the suit and mentally that you have the mind of a mascot," she explained.
For the Blue Devil in particular, Schick said the personality traits she had to embody were "feisty, confident, a little bit mischievous." She added, "When you put the suit on, you are becoming that character."
Basically, Schick made clear that you have to align with the mascot's identity when in costume. If you're a shy person naturally, the job would require a bit of acting, which she says is important to flex during tryouts.
"People are looking for how you are inside the suit, how you act and how it compares to the mascot itself," she explained.
"I believe they liked what they saw because they hired me and I spent the rest of my years at Duke putting the suit on doing football games, basketball games, private events, I did a couple of weddings," Schick remembered of her time beneath the mask.
She concluded, "You just go where needed, bring that energy and you just make people smile."
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Duke Blue Devils mascot
Schick revealed her identity as the person under the Blue Devil mask in April 2022 since she had to keep the gig a secret until she graduated. Upon exposing herself, she went viral in a video compilation she posted on TikTok featuring her most memorable mascot moments.
"When you're graduating and realize you're losing your weirdest secret personality trait," she wrote over the clip, which has amassed over 2M views since it was uploaded. "I will miss doing the worm and pretending not to know why the Blue Devil had boobs ," she wrote in the caption.
The post, meanwhile, racked up a number of comments from users on TikTok, including several professional sports teams across the NFL, NHL and more.
"Thank you for your contributions to the sports landscape," commented the Detroit Lions TikTok account. "Legendary," wrote the Pittsburgh Steelers account.
"Incredible," wrote the NFL. Jokingly, the Chicago Blackhawks commented, "This job really preps you for other duties as assigned."
The Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team has made it to March Madness' Final Four. They take on the Houston Cougars on Saturday, April 5, as they continue their quest to win the 2025 NCAA Championship.
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