“Blue Girl” fearless Panther full of pride

Vanessa Paredes/Life! Editor

Vanessa Paredes/The Beacon

It is not uncommon to see students walking around the University’s campus with another college’s name stamped all over their clothes. Panther pride is hard to come across around FIU, but there is still hope, and hope goes by the name of “Blue Girl.”

Jessica Tessene is not afraid to show her immense amount of school spirit. Tessene walks around campus confidently in her FIU, navy blue Morphsuit, hand made gold and blue cheer skirt and a matching top. Her “hair” sparkles gold, with glistening ballerina flats to match. If one thing is for certain, everyone notices her.

“My mission as ‘Blue Girl’ is to spread FIU pride throughout the school because we are a commuter school. People don’t really take pride in our athletics. With me being ‘Blue Girl,’ I show my panther pride at as many games as I can,” Tessene said.

Her initial inspiration came from FIU’s “Blue Man,” commonly seen at our football games. Just like “Blue Girl,” “Blue Man” wears a full body Morphsuit and shows his FIU pride in an intense way.

“I know ‘Blue Man’ on a personal level. We have plans in the works, but nothing is concrete yet because he is a college student just like me, and he’s busy too with his fraternity,” said Tessene.

“Blue Girl” has big plans for her future here at FIU. She has already scheduled a meeting with President Mark Rosenberg to discuss ideas for coming events. Additionally, “Blue Girl” plans to debut a brand new outfit Thursday, July 12, at Homecoming Unleashed.

“There is going to be a change in my wardrobe come Thursday when I debut my new outfit for fall of this year. The only thing I can say about it is that I got the idea from last year’s homecoming theme, which was ‘If Roary Ran The Circus,’” said Tessene. Tessene expresses that she really wants student’s, especially incoming freshmen, to understand her goal as “Blue Girl.” “Take pride in your school and enjoy your college experience. So many people that I’ve noticed here, they just come to school, that’s it. They are not involved.”

Above all, “Blue Girl” is extremely proud of FIU’s athletics. She explains how supportive she is of FIU’s football team, claiming that a lot of people don’t realize we are only a decade old. “With Mario Cristobal’s help, and T.Y. Hilton’s help even, we have come a long way. We went to our first bowl game and we won our first conference championship. FIU is going in the right direction,” said Tessene.

It is certain that FIU needs to overcome the “commuter school” stigma and student’s needs to learn how to be proud of where they study. They can learn a thing or two from “Blue Girl.”

“Don’t be scared to come up to me. I am a college student just like you,” said “Blue Girl.”

 

-Email at vanessa.paredes@fiusm.com


About Post Author