After a year of bringing falcon cheer, the birds have finally been revealed. 

After Saturday’s women’s basketball game against Toledo, the students behind the Freddie and Frieda Falcon mascots were revealed to be Will McLean, Kyle Negin, Cameron Drake, Danielle Cain, Hannah Super and Lilah Nye.

Cain said she experienced a wide range of emotions throughout the experience around what it meant to be revealed as the school mascot in front of the Bowling Green community.

“Excitement definitely, but the majority of it was a lot of anxiousness,” Cain said.

McLean said his year-long secret being revealed was definitely a big change, but he’s thankful the campus community can now recognize the work he and the other birds put in.

“It feels really wild. It’s gonna be a big adjustment. I’m so grateful and thankful for the experiences I’ve had and it’s really not gonna change a whole lot except for now that the BGSU community gets to know about, you know, my incredible siblings,” McLean said.

Negin expressed his gratitude towards BGSU and said being able to spread that gratitude and falcon spirit across campus has been the opportunity of a lifetime. He said he’s excited to continue to spread that spirit even after being unmasked.

“I’m definitely feeling a lot of gratefulness and excitement. I’m thankful that this experience led me to be able to spread my joy and positivity for this campus and BGSU,” Negin said. “I’m kind of excited to see where this organization and program takes me in the future and how much I can further push that excitement and that gratitude for this university, up until graduation.”

Nye said keeping the secret was difficult, but now that everyone around her knows, she’s excited to let her friends and family in on the experiences and opportunities behind the feathery faces of Freddie and Frieda.

“I would say I just feel completely surreal, knowing that I had a secret for so long and that I’ve had to keep these relationships, and that now everybody just gets to be let in. It’s amazing,” Nye said.

Drake said the bonds he created with the five other mascots this year were his favorite part of the experience, and now that they’ve been revealed, he’s excited to share their bonds with the world.

“I would say I’m super excited. This experience was pretty crazy, these six people sitting next to me are pretty special and I’m excited to be able to share them in public for sure,” said Drake. 

Some knew from the beginning that this was something they wanted to be a part of, while some got to the same path through support from others. 

Negin explained how he had joked about being a bird before, but that ended up being his reality.

“My freshman year I thought about it as I joked and talked about it with some friends. I said, ‘One day I’m gonna be the mascot,” Negin said.

By the second semester of his junior year, Negin knew he had to be Freddie Falcon.

“Junior year rolls around, applications are opening up and I hesitated for a little bit. But I thought about it and I knew that something like this was a perfect role for me to be able to show the world the kind of leadership that I provide, and the kind of joy and love that I can bring to everybody,” Negin said.

While attending BGSU, Cain knew she wanted to branch out to give back to the community and during her junior year, she felt that becoming Frieda would be her opportunity to achieve that. 

“Since I’ve been here on campus, I’ve always enjoyed giving back to my community and in different aspects. I was just like, ‘how can I touch other people’s hearts in different spaces and even branch out from my norm,’” Cain asked.

The influence from the past birds created a powerful impact on Drake, and he knew he would follow in the same path. 

“I had my first interaction with the birds and saw the impact that they made on not just myself, but also the other prospective students that were going to be attending BGSU,” Drake said.

McLean knew he would one day become Freddie Falcon. He attended each reveal and saw the excitement in people and wanted to be a part of it.

“I’ve been to every single reveal leading up to ours this year,” McLean said. 

Mclean explained he had wanted to be a bird for years, but was finally able to pursue his dreams his senior year when his schedule opened up. 

“When applications came out and I was looking at what my senior year might look like, I was like, I might be able to make this work,” McLean said. “So, I put in an application and then I was like, ‘let’s see what happens.’” 

Nye said she was inspired to be a bird from the birds that came before her. When she attended the unmasking with her family, her brother suggested that she should be one.

“My little brother turned to me and said, ‘I think you should do it.’ And I was like, ‘okay, I think I’m going to,’” Nye said.

Super said that she was influenced to look into the position. 

“I honestly don’t think I ever truly thought about it until sophomore year when someone in the Marvin center tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘I think this is a role you should consider applying for,” Super  

She explained that this was the push she needed to be a part of the mascot family. 

To learn more information about the birds, go to their Instagram @bgsubirds.