PARIS — Ruby Coulson of Sequim, who appeared as the towering Stanford tree mascot for the university, got to meet some of her school’s and the world’s best athletes at the biggest sporting event of the year — the Paris Olympics.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I feel like I don’t have the words for it.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, for sure.”
Coulson, who graduated from Sequim High School in 2023, was selected in April to be the Stanford tree for the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band, and with help from alumni Andrew and Nicole Luck, she traveled to Paris to support current and former Stanford athletes.
Stanford athletes won a school-record 39 medals — 12 gold, 14 silver, 13 bronze — and 59 Olympians who represented 14 countries in 20 sports competed with ties to the school, according to university staff.
Stanford’s women’s swimming and diving program recorded 17 medals, including four from alumna Katie Ledecky (two gold, one silver and one bronze). She became the most decorated American female Olympian of all time in any sport with 14 medals overall.
Ledecky was one of the many Stanford Olympians Coulson met and interviewed, along with swimmer Torri Huske, Stanford’s lone returning medalist who earned five medals, three gold and two silver.
More photos and videos of Coulson in Paris and during the upcoming sports seasons can be found at the Stanford tree’s account @dastanfordtree on social media.
In Paris, Coulson visited the Luxembourg Garden, the Panthéon, saw the Eiffel Tower and stayed in a hotel near the road cycling and marathon events.
She attended one sporting event the same day she flew in and saw the gymnastics’ finals for the women’s vault, men’s floor and men’s pommel horse.
Coulson went without the tree because tickets were hard to come by and she figured security likely would not have let her in wearing it. Instead, she met athletes out and about, training or exploring the area.
Reflecting on her takeaways from the trip, Coulson said she saw how many people it takes to put on something like the Olympics, plus the large number of people it takes to help the athletes.
She also admitted to moments of being starstruck. Coulson said Ledecky, while she’s an “exceptional person, she’s also just a person.”
Her tree
Coulson’s trip to Paris came just a few months after being selected as the 46th Tree, the unofficial mascot for Stanford, which has been an annual tradition since 1975.
In Paris, she wore Herman the Tree — made by Grayson Armour for the 2021-22 school year — while she’s been working this summer in Sequim to finish her unnamed Tree to wear at sporting events this school year.
Her “tree unveiling” is set for Stanford’s first home football game on Friday against TCU. It’s Stanford’s first football game after leaving the Pac-12 for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
She and her parents John and Jodie Coulson will drive down on Aug. 27 as the size of her costume is not conducive to flying.
“There’s no way to do this except going big,” Coulson said of the costume.
Her tree has a “tree tradition” theme, she said, and it has a similar shape to the previous tree made by Emily Rodriguez and size as the one she wore in Paris.
She’s leaning toward naming it after a high-profile movie or actress.
For a few weeks into the football season, she’ll miss a few games as she’ll be doing accelerated university credit hours in Tanzania, but she is going to try to find someone with some experience to stand in.
She’s most excited to appear as the Stanford Tree at the 127th Big Game matchup in Berkeley between Stanford and California on Nov. 23.
“Big Game is always fun, and it’s during Thanksgiving break, so I won’t have any classes,” Coulson said.
She’ll serve as the tree through April 2025. Follow her appearances on the social media platform X, @dastanfordtree.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
