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A furry newcomer will be among the thousands of attendees at the UUA General Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland, this month: Theo the Honey Badger.
Theo, who debuted last fall as the official mascot of Meadville Lombard Theological School, the Unitarian Universalist seminary based in Chicago, will join GA in the form of six-foot-tall banners. Theo will be in residence at a honey badger den at the Baltimore Convention Center during GA, June 18–22.
The birth of Theo, if you will, began about six years ago when Dr. Elías Ortega, Meadville Lombard’s president, was interviewing for his position. At that time, Meadville didn’t have a mascot. Asked what mascot he would suggest for the school, Ortega recommended a honey badger.
Meadville Lombard librarian John Dechant stands next to a cutout of Theo the Honey Badger, the school’s new mascot.
“I was watching a lot of honey badger documentaries with my kids,” he recalls, with a laugh, adding, “honey badgers are resilient, mischievous, they like to play, and they’re pretty smart.”
Ortega became Meadville’s president in July 2019; less than a year later the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Eager to foster and sustain community connection during the lockdown, Meadville—a low-residency school, with classes primarily online—sent students a stuffed animal honey badger to their homes.
“From there it kind of gained a life of its own,” Ortega says.
Students began sending each other photos posing with their honey badgers, and after the pandemic ended, graduating students were gifted with toy honey badgers.
“It became a fun thing, with folks looking forward to receiving their honey badger as part of the celebrations during commencement,” he says.
When Chloë Westerfield, Meadville’s marketing and communications officer, joined Meadville in late 2023, she thought a mascot would enhance the school’s identity. When she learned about the existing affinity for honey badgers, she recommended making it official, a suggestion met with universal approval from staff and faculty, she and Ortega recall.
Next up: a contest among students to suggest and vote on names.
“It was pretty much a landslide for Theo,” says Westfield, whom Ortega describes as the “mastermind” in developing the mascot. “It made a lot of sense: it’s shorty, catchy” and it references the school’s theological purpose.
Westerfield worked with a professional illustrator to design Theo’s look.
“A lot of mascots are fierce and terrifying” because they’re often part of school sporting events, which Meadville doesn’t have, she notes. While honey badgers “can be very fierce and intimidating, they are also incredible to other honey badgers they know, they’re great parents, and they can be very protective and loyal to those they love.”
She envisioned a Theo “that’s not a fierce mascot but shows up in the world as someone comforting, with sage wisdom.” The illustration they landed on shows Theo holding a chalice and a book with Meadville’s logo, dressed in a scarf that looks like a theological stole.
“You look at Theo and think they are very wise,” she says.
The incarnation was unveiled at commencement in the fall of 2024, in the form of a six-foot cutout.
“When we presented it to the audience, they were so happy and delighted,” Westerfield says. “This is something they’d been longing for, a rallying point for the students.”
Now, when students and their families visit campus, many have their picture taken with Theo. And Ortega is considering ways to create children’s content in the near future using Theo.
As a low-residency program, “we’ve been trying to figure out ways for folks to connect to each other in a way that’s also connected to what Meadville is,” adds Ortega. “Theo is helping create that center pull, that gravity, where folks feel a connection.”
“We are proud to call ourselves honey badgers and to put this out in the world as who we are,” Westerfield says.
Ortega encourages kids and adults alike to drop by the honey badger den at General Assembly to meet and take photos with Theo. The den will include spaces for people to relax and connect, a charging station for electronic devices, an opportunity to peruse books written by faculty and alumni, a selfie station with an instant film printer, and some very special surprises, according to Westerfield. For Theo’s growing fan base, the den will also offer Theo merchandise for purchase, including tote bags, pickleball paddles, hoodies, T-shirts, playing cards, and more.
“It’s definitely going to be a great event, and it will showcase our mascot to the wide world for the first time,” says Westerfield, who came up with the idea of a family-friendly honey badger den at GA. “The honey badger den is a place to talk with some of our community members, meet some new friends. Bring your kids—there will be special things for young adults and kids. It’s just a very cool vibe.”