This ASU grad has a supersize dose of school spirit

Interdisciplinary studies major can finally reveal the truth: She’s Sparky

By Scott Bordow, ASU News
May 11, 2026

Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable spring 2026 graduates.

During her time at Arizona State University, Sydney Lindon-Lake has managed to become an accomplished liar when it comes to her whereabouts.

Friends and classmates would ask her if she wanted to join them at football or basketball games.

“I can’t,” Lindon-Lake would tell them, and then the fibs came.

She’s not feeling great.

She has to work.

Something has come up.

The stories she told were all to cover up a secret, a secret Lindon-Lake finally revealed with a social media post this week. She has had an alter ego. His name: Sparky.

And those friends she kept blowing off? Little did they know.

“I find them at games when I’m in my suit and I mess with them,” said Lindon-Lake, who is graduating this May with a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on communications from the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.

“Of course, they have no idea it’s me. It’s funny. I’ll tell a friend I can’t make it to a game, and then I’ll scope them out, take a picture with them and steal their popcorn.”

Spend just a few minutes with Lindon-Lake, and it’s apparent why she fits so comfortably in Sparky’s skin. She’s boisterous and outgoing, an entertainer even when she’s sitting in a conference room for an interview.

“It fits my personality,” she said. “I love to dance. I love to act. And I’m the best person I know at charades.”

She even had prior experience. At the beginning of her sophomore year at Valley Vista High School in Surprise, Arizona, she was watching a volleyball game, where the student body president was entertaining the crowd as the school mascot, Stormy. He went beyond the stands and took off the mascot’s head so he could take a water break.

“He was all sweaty and he’s like, ‘I hate this suit,’” Lindon-Lake recalled. “I was like, ‘Well, if you don’t want to do it, I’ll do it.’ He was like, ‘Go ahead.’ So I was the mascot the rest of high school.”

Fast forward three years. Lindon-Lake is at her first Sun Devil football game, but instead of watching the game she can’t take her eyes off Sparky.

“I was like, 'Wow, that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life,’” she said. “It was awesome.”

Right then and there, Lindon-Lake wanted to be Sparky. But how?

Well, it turns out Sparky has an Instagram account — @sparkysundevil — that features photos, reels and updates of the mascot at events. There’s also a place on the account where prospective Sparkys can fill out an application form.

Other than her immediate family, Lindon-Lake has kept her secret a secret. She believes a few close friends have caught on, putting hints together like the big bag she carries with her — she doesn’t walk across campus dressed as Sparky — or the fact she sometimes leaves games with a bright red face and dripping with sweat.

Lindon-Lake is only the second female Sparky for Sun Devil Athletics, something she takes great pride in.

“I think it’s so awesome to see this community become more inclusive of women because I know it’s really underrepresented,” Lindon-Lake said.

“I hope I can inspire maybe a younger girl who likes to mascot at her high school. Maybe they’ll see my story, like what I’ve done, and it will show them they can do it too.”

(Video: {https://youtu.be/sqxl5bz3azo})

It’s game night for the ASU football team.

Lindon-Lake arrives at Mountain America Stadium about four hours before kickoff, gets into the Sparky suit, hops on a golf cart and entertains at several of the tailgates around the stadium, including, of course, Sparky’s Touchdown Tailgate.

After making her rounds at the tailgates, Lindon-Lake joins the players and coaches on their walk to the stadium. Then, as kickoff approaches, the real fun starts.

“When the lights turn off and the promo video goes on, Sparky grabs his pitchfork and crawls all the way from like the 10-yard line to the 50-yard line and then runs and stabs his pitchfork into the end zone,” Lindon-Lake said. “All the players come out, everyone’s hooting and hollering and Sparky’s getting the energy up. Then he jumps into the crowd, and from then on, it’s game on.”

Being Sparky is a full-time gig.

On a typical week during the winter sports season, Lindon-Lake might be at a men’s basketball game on Monday night, a women’s basketball game on Tuesday night, a swim meet on Wednesday and a community event later in the week. She has been Sparky at award banquets, grand openings of stores, walks to increase awareness of autism and epilepsy — and has even held a chainsaw while shooting a promo in the woods around Flagstaff last fall for the ASU-NAU football game.

“You’re always hustling and bustling,” Lindon-Lake said. “There’s always something to do.”

Lindon-Lake has met Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps, former Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and former Sun Devil basketball star James Harden, and she has had her — well, Sparky’s — face caked by DJ Steve Aoki.

It has been, she said, the ride of a lifetime.

“Every time I think about it ending I get so emotional because it’s been the most life-changing thing I have ever gotten to do in my life,” Lindon-Lake said. “Just being able to have the opportunity to represent not only the thousands of students who go here, but the hundreds of thousands of students before me, the hundreds of thousands of students that will come after me and all the Sun Devil fans everywhere.

“It’s just been such an amazing experience. I will talk about this for the rest of my life.”

Lindon-Lake’s days as a mascot may not be finished, though. She has made contacts in the sports industry, having worked for the entertainment departments of the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Rattlers while in college, and she’s crossing her fingers those contacts will lead to a job after graduation.

“I would love the opportunity to work for a professional team,” she said. “I’m not picky. I love being able to represent a team. But right now, baseball and the NBA are where the most idolized mascots I see work. So that would be perfect.”

This story originally appeared on ASU News.