Tatum Smith as Mount St. Mary Academy’s Betty Belle takes center stage at the Citrus Bowl Dec. 31 in Orlando, Fla, where performs as an All-American mascot selection. (Courtesy Varsity Spirit)

Junior chosen as new face of Mount St. Mary’s Betty Belle

Like many members of the student body, Tatum Smith is filled with spirit when it comes to her high school, Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock. Even though the junior from Sherwood is not Catholic and didn’t come up through the parochial school system, ever since she donned the houndstooth she’s felt at home and a spark enters her voice as she discusses her friends and school involvement.

“I’ve done a lot of fun things at the Mount. Like, we do this thing every year, it’s a lip sync thing for seventh-grade preview day, and we get a big group of girls together and we all perform together. That’s really fun and I get to bond with other girls at Mount,” she said.

“I have made so many friends, and I just love it here. It’s one of the best sisterhoods I’ve ever had, especially since I don’t have actual sisters.”

While Smith’s assessment of what it means to be a Mount girl can be echoed by many, there is one expression of her school spirit that is hers and hers alone. Starting this fall she’s become the symbol for the Mount, quite literally, as Betty Belle, MSM’s new costumed mascot. 

“I tried out for cheer in the past. I didn’t make it, but I still really wanted to be a part of all the hype around our sports and all of the events that we have,” she said. “I just wanted to do something that would be fun and that would get everybody super excited. When they revealed the mascot last Christmas (2023) I got super excited and I immediately went to the athletic director.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know what the process is for becoming the mascot, but I would love to be her. Like, that just sounds so exciting and I would love to be a part of that.’”

Smith’s name was added to the list of other girls who had come forward for the honor and was soon taking her turn prowling the sidelines of volleyball games and at pep rallies providing the hijinks to rev up the fans. It wasn’t long before the spirit writing was on the wall.

“We started off doing that together and over time I started to love it so much that when I was talking to the other girls they were like, ‘Yeah, you do such a good job at being the mascot, we think you should do it full time,’” Smith said. “I was like, ‘I would love to do that. That sounds so amazing.’”

Smith has been an instant hit, and the school has found ways to work her into MSM’s branding that go beyond the athletic program. She’s slated to host the school’s Easter egg hunt this spring and has also appeared at MSM fundraisers.

“We hosted a dinner at one of the other students’ houses for all the donors to come over, just basically us saying thank you,” Smith said. ‘Betty was one of the door greeters and basically welcomed everyone in. They were all so excited. They were happy to see that we finally got a mascot.”

Becoming Betty Belle may have felt like a natural thing to Smith, but the job presents its share of challenges. The size and bulk of the costume make transporting it a chore, and the structure of the outfit limits Smith in what she can physically do. Yet she embraces the challenge of connecting with the audience without words or visible facial expressions.

“Betty’s basically just a big dome over me. The only movement I have is really my legs and my hands,” she said. “I did cheer all through middle school so I knew a few moves from that, and I was a gymnast in elementary school. Most of my moves are just fun little short dances I’ve seen the cheerleaders or dancers do.

“I’m usually just bouncing around all happy, I twirl around a little bit, I wave at everybody, jazz hands. It’s all about the body language and how you present yourself when they can’t see you.”

Smith also picked up some mascot performance tips at cheer camp over the summer. Once again, her pure joy in her job as a spirit ambassador for her school was noticed by others, resulting in a unique honor.

“At cheer camp there was a section for mascots. It basically all gave us all a chance to learn and grow and it also gave us the opportunity to try out to be an All-American,” she said. “I was nominated to try out for All American, and I did and my audition went amazing. All the girls were cheering, even when my music stopped, they couldn’t stop singing along with it and dancing with me. The next day they called us all out and gave us our awards and they told me I made All American.”

The accolade brought with it the right to appear at the Citrus Bowl college football game in December in Orlando, Fla. Betty Belle was one of 42 All-American mascots to appear.

“It was super cool,” Smith said. “In the halftime show, they introduced us, the music started and we were all on top of the logo in the middle of the field. We had a routine, just a little dance and having fun being your mascot self.”

With that history-making experience under her belt, it appears Smith has a stranglehold on the gig until she decides to turn it over to someone else, which doesn’t look likely before she graduates Mount next year. In fact, she’s already plotting how to extend her mascot career to the next level.

“I want to be a teacher someday, teaching family and consumer science,” she said. “My main school choice right now is the University of Central Arkansas (in Conway) because it’s one of the lead teaching schools in Arkansas and it’s close to home. They also have a work-study program for mascots that I would love to be a part of. Hopefully when I go to college, I get to continue being a mascot. I’ve just loved doing it so far.”

Dwain Hebda

You can see Dwain Hebda’s byline in Arkansas Catholic and dozens of other online and print publications. He attends Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church in Little Rock.

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