{"id":11868,"date":"2025-10-07T15:08:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T19:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=11868"},"modified":"2025-10-07T15:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T19:09:08","slug":"campus-voices-meet-batman-the-bunny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2025\/10\/07\/campus-voices-meet-batman-the-bunny\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Voices: Meet Batman the Bunny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Waylon Jones, Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every team has its traditions, but the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) Women\u2019s Volleyball boasts something truly unique: Batman the Bunny, their unofficial team mascot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freshman volleyball player Bailey Rosentreter said Batman\u2019s story began during a road trip to Bangor. A group of teammates, including sophomore Rylie Kolkow, planned to visit a trampoline park. After taking a wrong turn into a mall, they wandered into a pet store, where freshman Brooke Gardner from Florissant, Colorado, instantly fell in love with a fluffy bunny sitting on the floor. After jumping at the trampoline park, the group returned to buy the rabbit. Without even knowing its gender, they named it Batman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven if it wasn\u2019t a boy, we said we were still going to name it Batman,\u201d Rosentreter said, laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that day forward, Batman quickly became a campus celebrity. While most pets at UMPI stay tucked away in dorm rooms, Batman loves attention. He\u2019s social, cuddly, and often appears at volleyball practices, basketball hangouts, and even soccer games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good emotional support animal,\u201d Rosentreter explained. \u201cA lot of us have gone through injuries or tough times, and he\u2019s always been there to keep us from breaking points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many players, Batman has helped fill the gap of missing pets back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI think the bunny is my best friend,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s been really helpful during emotional times.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kolkow shared the same feelings: \u201cI miss my animals back home, and having Batman here fills that space. It\u2019s nice to have him around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now adored across multiple sports, Batman has become more than just a pet. The team calls him a \u201csecondary mascot,\u201d  even joking that he\u2019s the real face of UMPI Athletics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether cheering up injured players or bringing smiles to students around campus, Batman the Bunny has truly hopped his way into the heart of UMPI athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Waylon Jones, Staff Writer Every team has its traditions, but the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) Women\u2019s Volleyball boasts something truly unique: Batman the Bunny, their unofficial team mascot. Freshman volleyball player Bailey Rosentreter said Batman\u2019s story began during a road trip to Bangor. A group of teammates, including sophomore Rylie Kolkow, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7376],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11872,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11868\/revisions\/11872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}