Story by Meridian Pearson, Reporter
Photos taken from Instagram

This past week has found the Aquinas College Writing Center consultants ill at ease due to the disappearance of our beloved mascot, Odin the Otter. On the morning of Wednesday, September 15, AQ Writing Center coordinator Julie Bevins messaged the consultant group chat after finding the CORE desk otterless. “Does anyone know where Odin is?” she asked, followed by three crying emojis. Concerned consultants worked together to pinpoint the last known sighting of Odin. The sweet animal was reportedly last seen at a Writing Center shift mid-day on Tuesday. Exactly what happened between then and now is a mystery—but there is compelling evidence that suggests this creature caper is a student at Aquinas.

I, along with many other WC consultants, decided to investigate this ostentatious otternapping. Who took him? Was it someone he knew, easily able to coax him away from his post? Could he still be closeby on campus? Might this act have been inspired by the recent social media trend involving school property theft? These questions and more became the basis of this investigation. WC media manager Leah Ash sent out a missing persons poster on social media, hoping someone would offer a shred of evidence on the criminal. “Have you seen this otter?” she asked, providing contact information should anyone have any evidence on the case. “This is NOT a joke. Please help us find our otter!”

The stress of the disappearance brought our consultants together in concern, but concern quickly turned into conspiracy. No consultant was safe! Theories about the identity of the perpetrator popped up, from suspecting the media manager was trying to get social media hype, to claiming that the entire WC taskforce was involved in the deception. Fingers were pointed in all directions, even prompting a poll in the consultant group chat to vote on who we thought was most likely to have captured our canty critter. 

Amongst the deliberation, however, was a new goal: to get Odin back before the WC 10th Anniversary party at Homecoming on Saturday. By Thursday, we got a new piece of evidence on the case. Odin has a new Instagram account! His first post mentions the WC Instagram account, saying, “Out for a stroll.” The account’s bio claims, “I’m not missing, I’m on vacation!”

We are now certain that the perpetrator is not a Writing Center consultant, but another Aquinas College student–which makes this mystery even more important to solve! After multiple attempts to communicate with the caper through Instagram, however, we were getting nowhere. Julie and the consultants even bribed the burglar with a bag of goodies and guaranteed anonymity. Getting Odin back at this point seemed impossible.

On September 26, the impossible happened. We got word from Campus Safety that our fuzzy friend had found his way to their office! Julie picked Odin up as soon as she could, and let all the consultants know the good news. The mystery was never solved… but Odin was back, and that was all that mattered!

From this mystery, however, came a wonderful new idea. Odin was so excited to go on an adventure that he wants to go on more! WC consultant Jama Jama is helping Odin figure out great places to travel and friends to go with him. Who knows where he will go next?