Otter Student Union

Mini Monte's Story

Mini Monte is an eight month old southern sea otter pup who sadly came loose from his kelp one night and floated away in his sleep. Alone, scared, and having lost his raft, Monte Rey heard the little pup’s cries and found him. To try cheering him up, Monte told the pup about a wonderful and magical place, CSUMB, and all about our raft. It was music to the little pup’s ears! He was ecstatic and wanted to see it for himself, hoping to become part of our raft. 

It was heaven! Monte showed the little pup around the CSUMB campus and even though the campus was currently empty, he could still feel the love and energy there. A big smile replaced the little pup’s tears. As they moved around, they came to the new Otter Student Union building where boxes were being brought in. “What is this place?” asked the little pup. “This? This is the heartbeat of campus.”

Luckily, the OSU staff were in the process of moving into their new building, their new home. It was impossible for the OSU staff to not fall in love with the little pup looking for a new home. “You know, you look just like Monte! Maybe we should call you Mini Monte?” We showed the two around our new home, highlighting the different areas and telling them how it would soon be filled with students, faculty, and staff. Mini Monte’s eyes grew with wonder and excitement of possibly being part of such a unique raft. By the end there was no need to think about it, we invited Mini Monte to be part of our team and to make the new student union building his home. Overjoyed, he said yes!

Now as we prepare to open the new building, Mini Monte does what he can to help and learn about us, what we do, and how we do it. His small size and age does mean that sometimes he gets into trouble, but he means well and brings a lot of smiles and laughter. Since Mini Monte is a pup, his fur is still so dense that he has trouble diving underwater to get the amount of food he needs daily. His lowered metabolism means he has trouble staying warm and the poor thing shivers occasionally. To help with this, we’ve made him his very own OSU hoodie which he absolutely loves! It not only helps keep him warm, but makes him feel part of our team and even more, part of our raft. 

Mini Monte is so excited for the fall semester to start at CSUMB and he can’t wait to meet you all!

 

About Mini Monte

Mini Monte tries to be helpful and even though his small size makes it difficult, that doesn’t stop him from trying. He loves learning everything involved with what we do at the OSU and likes helping do event set up, particularly playing with the lights, as well as participating in our social media posts, and he’s excited about helping at the information desk. Since he is small he likes to occasionally sneak up on people and also prefers being carried around rather than walking. Just don’t accept his challenge of holding your breath, he’s a natural!

Pronouns: he/him

Age: 8 months old 

Size: head to tail he is 16.5” tall, but sitting is almost 9” tall

Where He Lives: Otter Student Union 

What he loves about CSUMB and OSU: all the fun and interesting people means he has a big family to play with and the great views from the new OSU building 

Likes: snacking on sea urchins and crabs, playing with starfish, sunbathing, meeting new people 

Dislikes: eating fish, homework, stairs, mean people 

Personality Traits: optimistic, adventurous, helpful, mischievous, encouraging, trickster, sociable, sneaky, impulsive, compassionate

Quirks: extremely short, always wears his favorite OSU hoodie, highly extroverted, contortionist, can only sit upright if his tail is to his right, illegible handwriting, loves all music, enjoys cuddles, cheats at pool