By Rachel Galatis
When Kaili Guyer attended her first Boston College football game with her dad at a young age, she knew she wanted to be a team mascot someday.
“In my application to Stonehill back in 2017, I included that one thing I would be interested in doing on campus was to be the mascot,” she said.
“Ace” attends football, and both men’s and women’s basketball games on campus and is the highlight of the Stonehill traditional “Midnight Madness” event. Ace’s job is to get the crowd excited by dancing, throwing t-shirts, and performing stunts.
Guyer, a senior, has played the role of “Ace” for the past three and a half years.
Midnight Madness is Stonehill’s version of a pep rally, where the whole school stays in the gymnasium until Midnight watching the dance team and cheerleaders perform, as well as watching the basketball teams participate in mini-games.
Guyer, who is also a member of the dance team, said she took the role in her second semester of her freshman year during a “Special Olympics” event on campus.
“One of the coordinators asked the group of volunteers ‘would anyone be willing to be Ace today?’ and I was quick to say ‘yes!’ Now, the rest is history,” she said.
In addition to campus events, Ace also attends mascot-specific competitions, including the infamous DTU College Classic National Mascot Competition. This year the competition is set to take place in Orlando.
Guyer said she hopes to reclaim the winning title this year after winning the 2019 competition.
“My favorite memory with Ace was undoubtedly winning the DTU College Classic National Mascot Competition in Las Vegas back in 2019, and I will be going to Orlando this coming year to hopefully reclaim this title...stay tuned,” she said.
Last year, many on and off campus events were cancelled due to the pandemic, including both the DTU competition and both sports seasons that Ace would normally attend. This year, all the events are expected to take place.
The first football game of the season was on Saturday, Sept. 4 against Bloomsberg where the Skyhawks took home the win with a 35-13 score.
Stephen Cobbs, a junior on the football team, said the team was so excited to play their first game in almost a year and a half.
Cobbs said the team relies on Ace to get the crowd pumped up during home football games.
“Everyone loves Ace, and I feel like Ace engages the campus and builds a lot of spirit to the point where it’s always fun seeing him,” he said.
School spirit has been a steady focus on campus this year and some of the sports such as football, dance, cheerleading, cross-country, soccer, field hockey, and tennis, are relying on Ace to drum up fan energy.
Savannah Tobin, a junior on the dance team, said that Ace makes school spirit come to life.
“I think it is important, especially during games, to have the mascot interact with not only the fans but with the people that contribute on the sidelines as well (that being the dance team and the cheer team),” she said.
The dance team performs routines during football games, Midnight Madness, and competes in statewide competitions. The National competition will take place in April 2022.
Tobin said that the role of the dance team is like that of Ace, as their job is to bring spirit to events and represent what Stonehill stands for.
“Like Ace, it is important to be able to have the dance team perform at these events because it brings entertainment and makes the crowd have fun while they're in the stands,” she said.
Eli Gardner, the head football coach, said that Ace is an asset to both school recognition and fan experience.
“Especially with younger fans and children, Ace is a memorable representation of their experience on gameday,” he said.
The team has ten regular games scheduled in the upcoming season, six of which are home games. Typically, the home games attract a large crowd of families, potential players, and current students, many of which come early to tailgate before the game in the parking lot across from W.B. Mason stadium.
At games, you will find the crowd dressed in purple, white, and any form of Stonehill attire. Ace always wears a game shirt with the number one on the front.
Guyer said that since becoming Ace, she has found Stonehill to be her “happy place” and that nobody can look at Ace without smiling.
“As cheesy as it sounds, seeing Stonehill through Ace's lenses is so special. It doesn't matter if you are an athlete, top of the class, artistic, quiet, outgoing, or not...Ace loves everyone, and everyone loves Ace,” she said.
