Montclair Mascots Unveil Secret Identities at Commencement 2024

Montclair State University graduate Joseph Lepinski channeled both his popular online persona “Jersey Joe” and his secret identity as Rocky the Red Hawk, wearing the school mascot’s large yellow bird feet at Monday’s Commencement at Prudential Center. When his name was called, Lepinski danced across the dais toward a smiling President Jonathan Koppell who shook his hand and patted him on the back.  

Lepinski was one of four graduating Team Rocky members, who carried on the tradition of revealing themselves as Rocky during Commencement. Although he and fellow Rocky and graduate Vanessa Fingerlin had both revealed their secret identities on their respective social media channels, they both wore big yellow feet with their graduation gowns to reveal their secret mascot identities to the morning Commencement attendees. At the afternoon ceremony, Eliza Andrus and Aylin Alvarez-Santiago revealed their undercover assignments of portraying Ricky, Rocky’s odd cousin, by donning the mascot’s oversized sneakers. 

“All four of these students have truly made their mark on the campus as members of Team Rocky,” says Team Rocky Advisor Hannah Lindeblad ’13. “Some only have been on for a year, while others have been on since 2019. I am so proud of all of them and can’t wait to see what they do after they leave Montclair State University.”

Seeing Double: Rocky

Lepinski graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Fingerlin earned a Bachelor of Arts in Educational Foundations for Elementary Teachers.

Jersey Joe and Montclair’s social media team revealed Lepinski’s Rocky persona on social media platforms on May 10. Lepinski shared four dance videos of himself dressed as Rocky, racking up almost 25 million views combined. A Commencement day video of him dancing as red and white confetti still floated in the air snagged 4 million views alone. Some followers and fellow students commented that they’d suspected he was Rocky all along, while others said they’d been completely fooled. 

“I knew it!” wrote Jennifer Lynn.

“No freakin’ way,” commented someone named Shakira. 

Monica Rolon said: “This actually makes A LOT of sense.” 

Associate Professor of Exercise Science and Physical Education Kristin Scrabis-Fletcher, who had Lepinski in class, says: “Joe was always very high energy in class and eager to participate. He has tremendous energy which is infectious.”

That energy undoubtedly helped Lepinski juggle both his social media and academic careers.

Fingerlin had been toying with the idea of transferring from Montclair but then decided to take a leap of faith and apply to Team Rocky. “I’ve always been tall (5’10”), so I was like, ‘Why not do something to you know, show off my height?’” she recalls. 

Taller team members can wear the Rocky costume, while shorter ones often wear the Ricky garb. Fingerlin joined the team in 2019 but took a leave of absence from school during the 2020 pandemic. “Team Rocky was the anchor that brought me back,” she says.

The highlight for Fingerlin was performing with Montclair cheerleaders for their back-to-back championship titles in the Advanced Small Coed Division III competition at the National Cheerleaders Association & National Dance Association College Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida, earlier this year. She recalls hiding her Rockydom by pretending she was helping the Cheer Team with social media. “It was really, really cool being on that stage and being able to be the first Rocky to go,” she says, noting that it was Montclair’s first time to attend in person in years.

While she would have been happy to be more involved in the team’s performance, the Rocky costume can be restrictive, she says, laughing. “I really liked being able to stand in the middle of their pyramid and hype them up and rep MSU.”

She also enjoyed hosting Rocky on the Street, for which she didn’t have to don her Rocky suit. “I had such an amazing time hosting,” she says.

Team Rocky duties kept the new graduate busy. Fingerlin says she had 83 shifts as either a handler or as Rocky, 42 of them this semester alone. “I just love it. I love being able to work with people on the team and go out and do fun events like the football games, Accepted Student Day and anytime they’ve got a DJ in the quad, I love being there. It’s so much fun.”

Fingerlin, who is applying for elementary school jobs, says she’s sad to say goodbye to being Rocky. “I’m devastated. It’s heartbreaking,” she says.

As a member of the team, “I was able to watch myself grow into the person I am now, and Team Rocky has been such an anchor for me. It’s definitely going to be a rough transition not being on the team anymore but I know there’s going to be so much change and so many new ideas, and I’m excited to see it grow. We have such a great alumni base, so I know that it’s more like a ‘See you later’ than a ‘Goodbye.’”

Ricky Times Two

Andrus, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, wore Ricky’s high-top sneakers with her Commencement gown. She joined Team Rocky in her sophomore year. 

With many family members in entertainment, including her uncle Joe Gatto, a founding cast member of Impractical Jokers, Andrus was destined to major in Musical Theatre. She knew she could do TV and movies and was initially focused on a Broadway career but found it less fulfilling than she imagined.

Team Rocky opened up a whole new world of entertainment to her, she says. “I discovered you can join Team Rocky, so I applied, I got on and that really just opened the door for sports entertainment. I would never have even known that I could do that professionally.”

Andrus already has mascot and announcer jobs lined up. She’ll work as game emcee and mascot handler for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, a minor league baseball team. She says her T-shirt launching skills as part of Team Rocky will come in handy, as she will also be doing that in the future. She also works part time for the New Jersey Devils hockey team and for a character entertainment company, which provides costumed performers for events, such as birthday parties.

“I am very often found dressed as the princesses, as the superheroes, and I do a lot of mascotting for them. The mascot thing runs deep,” she says, laughing.

Andrus, who wears prescription glasses, likened wearing the Ricky costume to a “toddler’s onesie” and his head to “wearing a baseball mask that’s made for a child and not an adult.” Because there’s no room for her glasses and she doesn’t wear contacts, “I was blind in more ways than one,” Andrus says.

The handlers are key to guiding the costumed team members, she says. “There is no room for anything but your nose in there. It’s literally like this against your face,” she says, placing her hand against her nose. “You can’t see, you can’t breathe, it’s horrible but the most fun.”

Alvarez-Santiago spent only her final year at Montclair on Team Rocky. She served as  Ricky, a handler and the camera person for Rocky on the Streets – not surprising given that she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television. Because there is only one pair of Ricky high-top sneakers, Alvarez-Santiago borrowed Rocky’s low top sneakers for her Commencement reveal.

Alvarez-Santiago remembers seeing Cousin Ricky at Rocky’s Birthday party celebrations and thinking, “Oh, this guy looks so weird, and he’s my height.” It was then she decided, “I want to be on this team to be him so bad.”

She got her chance and loved every minute of it. “It was hard to hear and navigate but I just loved hearing people ask, ‘Who is that? What is his story?’” she says. “It was just a fun time because they didn’t know it was me under there.”

Those who portray Ricky often come up with a signature quirk for the character. Alvarez-Santiago’s was to walk away from people and then quickly turn and face the person. “It’s kind of to scare you a little but that was my favorite bit with Ricky,” she says, adding that after seeing her reveal photos, she took a good look at Ricky’s head. “He’s a little creepy.”

Although she was on Team Rocky for only a year, it was a busy one for Alvarez-Santiago, who racked up the most shifts during her final two semesters. She had three post-Commencement handling shifts, including coming back for Bloomfield College of Montclair State University’s Commencement on May 18.

“I loved my time and being that little freak.”

PHOTO GALLERY

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez. 

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