Speedy the Geoduck is Evergreen’s Mascot
The geoduck has been called every name in the book: weird, versatile, baffling, even a delicacy, but Speedy represents the essence of Evergreen’s charm.
What the Heck is a Geoduck?
Despite the name, a geoduck is not a duck, nor is it a geode. In fact, it’s pronounced like gooey-duck. Clearly, nothing is quite as it seems when it comes to the geoduck.
The geoduck is the world’s largest burrowing clam. The Puget Sound geoduck weighs in at over two pounds on average. It’s so large, it can’t fit into its own shell. Omnia extares, indeed!
Geoducks can live longer than you or I. The longest-lived geoduck on record was 168 years old. Technically, that would make it a supercentenarian, but we’ll settle with just super.
The word geoduck comes from the Lushootseed word gʷídəq, meaning “dig deep.” Geoducks stretch their siphons out up to three feet beneath the sand. Get out your clam-diggers.
Geoducks are most commonly found in the Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. Pacific Northwest represent!
From the Seashore to the Sidelines
The geoduck is a symbol of the essence of Evergreen: accessible to all who are willing to dig deep.
At Evergreen, the Geoduck represents more than team members and fans. Founders of the college wanted a mascot that epitomized the difference between traditional schools and Evergreen’s innovative ideas. It had to be the opposite of all the snarling, fierce, aggressive mascots typically seen in athletics.
It is a symbol of the essence of the college: accessible to all who are willing to dig deep—stable, yet flexible, and the antidote to departmental thinking and design that is the standard in most colleges and universities. And since Evergreen is devoted to sustainable and environmentally conscious practices, the geoduck—a integral part of the Pacific Northwest ecosystem—is the perfect representative.
Origins of the Evergreen Mascot
The Geoduck Fight Song
Words and music by Malcolm Stilson, 1971
Go, Geoducks go,
Through the mud and the sand, let’s go.
Siphon high, squirt it out, swivel all about,
let it all hang out.
Go, Geoducks go,
Stretch your necks when the tide is low
Siphon high, squirt it out, swivel all about,
let it all hang out.