For years, this has been the job of the mascot: to be the embodiment of team spirit, unity, and support.  They  bring  a  certain  essence  to  the school that would not be there without them. 

This year the students that are the totem of that spirit are senior Lauren Eastin and sophomore Reginald (Reggie) Jenkins.

Jenkins  has  been  mascot  since  the  2021-22 school  year.  His  journey  to  become  mascot happened by accident, but ultimately, became something he fell in love with doing. 

“It started with a homecoming parade one-time thing  and  then  I  was  asked  to  do  it  for  one  football game and then I fell in love with hyping the crowd up,” Jenkins said.

Like her partner, when Eastin originally started her voyage as mascot she didn’t think it would mean as much to her as it does now.

“It was definitely a change of pace. It’s something that I’m not used to doing,” Eastin said. “I went into it thinking ‘oh, this would be funny’ but now I’m fully committed to it.”

The process for becoming mascot was different than originally planned but had a good outcome of two mascots. 

“Tryouts were very different, we were supposed to do it this year, but we ended up not doing it,” Jenkins said. “We are lucky to have two mascot costumes this year, me and Lauren.”

This  year  the  mascots  are  working  towards  being more involved in the community. 

“There’s a lot of community outreach that we’re trying to do this year and it’s actually been really fun so far,” Eastin said. “We just did a fundraiser at Cane’s and there’s little kids and it’s so adorable, just seeing everybody,” 

For  Jenkins  the  best  part  of  being  in  the  mascot suit is the crowd cheering him on.

“[The best part is] just having the feeling of the crowd just loving you just hyping you up that self-confidence,” Jenkins said.

While being mascots is fun, it’s also a lot of hard work.

When you’re trying to dance and stuff like that, it’s very difficult because you’re out of breath, it’s very hot in there, you can only see the ground,” Jenkins said. “So just be mindful, if we bump into you, we don’t mean it intentionally if we can’t hear you.”

While being a mascot is  a tough job, Reggie and Lauren do it on top of everything else on their lates for the sake of school spirit.