New mascot and escorts improve school spirit

by Maggie Blackburn

Mascot and escort tryouts were held at MHS to help raise the spirit of the school, according to Activities Director Joanna Butcher. One mascot and five escorts were chosen using a set rubric of rules and guidelines, Butcher said.

The mascot is the one that wears the costume, where as the escorts are the students who go out into the crowd and throw candy or other prizes. Senior Victor Hernandez is the new MHS mascot and Sophomore Kaila Jurgens, Senior Amery Augustin, Senior Jimmy Maley, Senior Journey McDowell, and Sophomores Giomani Gameng and Kaila Jurgens.

Compared to previous years, there was a good turnout of people trying out for mascot and for the entourage. “There was only one person who wanted to be [the mascot] last year,” Butcher said, “This year when we announced it there was actually five people who showed up to tryout for mascot and seven additional people trying out to be escorts.”

Hernandez, the new mascot, decided to tryout after some guidance from his friends. Since Hernandez had already participated in Trojan Olympics and displayed some of his spirit in school rallies, he used improvisation to come up with a routine for the tryouts, Hernandez said. The tryouts required mascots to do a dance, skit, do push-ups, wake-up a dead crowd, and sprint 100 yards.

In addition to the experience that he has had, Hernandez’s main goal for the season is to help the overall spirit of the school. “I have lots of spirit, and I’m really dedicated to this,” Hernandez said, “I like making people happy, and I like hearing everyone laugh, and I just want to make a good impression.”

Helping the mascot are the escorts or entourage. Different than the mascot, the escorts do not wear a costume, but are more like the spirit-promoters, according to Butcher. Both the escorts and mascots attend various home sports events, as well as different rallies throughout the whole year.

Jurgens, a member of the entourage, tried out because she also wants to help out the school spirit although she is not sure about what she thinks about being escort since the season just started, according to Jurgens. Her loudness and spirit are what led her tryout for escort, Jurgens said.

Those who want to tryout for mascot or escorts cannot tryout this year, according to Butcher. The mascot and escorts that are here now will be the ones who stay throughout the year. No additional mascot or escort tryouts will be made, Butcher said.