Butler’s mascot ‘Trip’ kicks off his final year of duties by surprising students with admission

Butler’s mascot ‘Trip’ kicks off his final year of duties by surprising students with admission

Butler's mascot 'Trip' kicks off his final year of duties by surprising students with admission

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Butler’s “Blue” is not going away just yet.

The beloved bulldog will “retire” at the end of the school year. Blue III, also known as ‘Trip” and his handler Michael Kaltenmark will give up their duties together.

Until then, Trip will keep working to spread good cheer and Butler spirit at games and events around campus.

That includes the “Butler Bound” delivery campaign.

It’s the tradition of surprising students at their homes with news of their admission.

On Wednesday morning, Trip and Kaltenmark kicked off the duo’s first of their final Butler Bound deliveries to unsuspecting student Irene Tragesser.

Tragesser is a senior at Zionsville Community High School and applied to Butler in September.

“I’m so excited because Butler is my dream school,” said Tragesser.

If Tragesser accepts Butler’s acceptance offer, she plans to join the College of Education as an education student with a concentration in special education.

“My sister has special needs. I work very closely with the special needs students at my high school. I want to continue to follow the work that my teachers do and continue to support this amazing community,” said Tragesser.

Trip and Kaltenmark have visited more than 315 undergraduates across 21 states.

Of those, 32% end up enrolling at Butler.

“This is really unique, not many other schools do this if any. It’s fun for us to get the dog on the road and get Butler on the road to surprise these students,” said Kaltenmark.

As for what Trip plans on doing after retirement?

“I’m not sure he’s OK with retiring, but we need to do what’s best for him. He’ll still be around campus from time to time, but for the most part, just hanging out at home with our family,” said Kaltenmark.

Evan Krauss, Kaltenmark ’s current assistant, and the new puppy will take over next fall.

Krauss is working with local vets to find Blue IV.