“The best way to describe the feeling of putting on the costume is like the whole superhero persona. I take on a whole new identity.”
Merylee Sevilla is a Carleton student with a not-so-secret identity. She has been Carleton’s mascot, Rodney the Raven, for three years.
Sevilla doesn’t just see being Rodney the Raven as a fun alternative to her everyday self — she also sees it as a job.
Over the past three years, she has been able to make significant connections between the symbolism of a raven and why she believes it’s Carleton’s mascot.
“The first use of the word ‘Ravens’ as a title for Carleton athletic teams appears in the October 22, 1948 edition of the student newspaper (formerly known as the Carleton),” says Patti Harper, head of Carleton’s archives and research collections department at the MacOdrum Library.
“It may be that the name was adopted simply because the Carleton players, in their black uniforms, looked like ravens.”
Sevilla’s First Nations culture has taught her the raven is intelligent, humanitarian and a protector.
“These three descriptions essentially sum up what it means to be part of the Carleton community,” Sevilla says.
“Coming to Carleton means you are part of a community for life. Should you ever need help, Carleton will be there.”