By Sarah Levine
The nature of the mascot is one of mystery. Few people know who really is the personality behind their teams’ mascots. Even fewer know the origin of their mascot. Where does the mascot come from? Who is the person under the suit?
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Northeastern held its mascot tryouts. The Notheastern News was lucky enough to be permitted to observe this closed event. The tryouts were held in a secluded area of the Cabot Building.
There for the tryouts were four NU students including sophomore Allyson Savin., also the Exrcutive Vice President of the Student Government Association.
“It was something that I’ve always wanted to do,” said Savin, a sophomore candidate for mascot. “When I was little, I always wanted to be Minnie Mouse in Disney World. We definitely need a riling of school spirit on this campus.”
“I can’t believe I’m going through with this,” said Emily Bull, a senior. Bull was a figure skater, but an injury prevented her from being able to skate anymore. She wants to be a mascot so she could still be involved with athletics.
Carah Hall, another senior, has three years of mascoting experience under her belt.
“You have to put up with a lot,” Hall said. “Like kids pulling on your tail, and drunk guys going after you and stuff.”
She also remembered a time that a photographer took a picture of her while she had her costume head off.
“It really wasn’t cool,” Hall said.
First, before the actual date of the tryouts, the candidates are subjected to a preliminary interview before they would be allowed to show their stuff in front of the panel. Then, before their routines, they once again were interviewed.
Some of the questions were: Why do you want to be a mascot? How would you react if a drunken fan harassed you? And, what should you do if you’re out on the court when you’re not supposed to be and the referee kicks you out?
After the panel questions were the routines. Each routine was prepared ahead of time, and was no more than three minutes long. Savin went first; all the other candidates were required to leave during her performance. She performed to a music mix she had prepared herself. After the routine, the candidate was asked to perform emotions.
“Show us when you’re sad,” the panel said.
“Now show us happy,” and “angry” and “love.”
Bull, the second contendor also had a dance mix. Finally there was the mascot veteran, Hall. She brought a prop to aid her as she danced to Michael Jackson, The Village People, Justin Timberlake, M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice. Even the panel showed signs of emotions this time around.
Steven Bulowsky, an athletics external affairs employee, conducted the tryouts and he had a few things to say about the mascot selection process.
“We look for someone who is enthusiastic about the school, about being a mascot and someone who’s creative,” Bulowsky said. “You need to have creativity, you need to be energetic and interactive but, most importantly, you need school spirit.”
In the end, what does it really take to be NU’s mascot? School spirit is key. After all, what good is a mascot who doesn’t root for the right team? It doesn’t hurt to have energy, enthusiasm and even a little athletic ability. Oh yes, and a high heat tolerance is essential as well.
