Walk around the campus on any Friday and you'll likely hear a guy chanting "Happy Friday" while dressed in a blue morph suit, helmet, sunglasses and cape, racing around on a scooter.
"Happy Friday Guy," as he's known, can be found on campus — only on Fridays — to help students celebrate the end of the week.
The Happy Friday Guy tradition started “a long time ago,” and the individual was known on the campus as “Scooter Bob,” said the current Happy Friday Guy, who remains anonymous to Ball State students and faculty.
"I think the Happy Friday Guy is really cool," Kara Barstead, a freshman undecided major said. "I was having a pretty rough day when I saw him, and it was really nice to just be told 'Happy Friday.'"
Now, Happy Friday Guy said his favorite part of the job is “making people happy, celebrating Ball State and Fridays.”
"It's just such a nice positive thing to do, going around telling people 'Happy Friday,'" Barstead said. "I'm really glad he does it."
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Happy Friday Guy added that for the most part, people are supportive. Sometimes, however, he said he has to "learn the hard way" that others don't always feel the same.
“I got in a little trouble for opening classroom doors one time, and sometimes I find out the hard way where I shouldn't be," Happy Friday Guy said, "But overall, people seem very happy and supportive of our fun."
The current Happy Friday Guy added that current and past Happy Friday Guys prefer to stay anonymous because "it's about the philosophy of spreading happiness," not about the individuals behind the mask.
One teacher at East Elementary in Pendleton was inspired by Happy Friday Guy and decided to bring her own version of the hero to her school.
"I loved the [Happy] Friday Guy while being on campus," alumna Ashely Gustin said, who graduated last summer. "He truly made me smile, and I looked forward to seeing him."
East Elementary's Happy Friday Guy wears a "Super Reader" t-shirt to promote the school's reading initiative program.
"I just happened to see a tweet from the [Happy] Friday Guy and wanted to bring the same smiles to kids' faces at our elementary," Gustin said.
Gustin and Ball State's Happy Friday Guy plan to exchange shirts soon and will wear each other's one Friday.
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