So what’s the deal with the octopus? What’s the octopus’ name? Is there a story behind the octopus? All great questions we get from time to time. So let’s dive in to some answers. See what we did there? Dive in, because Ollie’s from the ocean? Yep, jokes are even funnier when you explain them!

Our Director of Operations & Design created our mascot, Ollie the Octopus, in 2017 as we were completing the Middle School Curriculum. Nyk felt like we needed some whimsy, and as a former 2D animator, it only seemed right to draw a cartoon character to bring that levity.

The team thought through all kinds of possibilities of animals what their cultural meanings would imply. For example owls are thought of as a symbol of intelligence in the United States, but in Mexico they are thought of as a symbol of darkness, magic, night and death. And so, after a few (or a ton of) iterations later we had a cute octopus wearing a beanie.

Now we can’t imagine UN|HUSHED with out our friendly oceanic star. Ollie’s name came a year later when our founders were exhibiting at a conference and an attendee took it upon themselves to sit down and workshop what our mascot’s moniker should be. When they suggested Ollie, it was the perfect fit, as though that had been the way it was all along.

Later that year a group of middle schooler’s taking the UN|HUSHED community class decided Ollie’s pronouns were they/them and approved of our conference going friend’s name choice.

As we’ve continued to publish our full K-12 curricula each level has been given it’s own Ollie at that stage of life. Ollie in pre-K sports a fun propeller hat, while elementary Ollie has aged up in to a less silly baseball cap. In middle school Ollie starts to enjoy music and technology, while high school ollie is a little more in to fashion. As playful as we are at UN|HUSHED we are also nerding it up in some outstanding ways, like constantly thinking through child development, age appropriateness, and how these things effect our materials.

So thanks for taking a minute to learn a little more about our super cute aquatic friend, Ollie the Octopus. We’d love to hear what you think their life story would be.