Senior Andrew Barstow always dreamed of letting his school spirit shine through a mascot costume, and when the opportunity arose last spring, he was more than interested.

“We did announce that we were holding mascot tryouts along with cheer tryouts and Andrew was the only student that approached me with interest,” Cheer Coach Kalb said.

Because he was the only one interested, Barstow got the job. But he soon learned, there was a lot more missing to his new hobby than just a costume.

“It’s like an art,” Barstow said. “It has more depth than you would think.”

To prepare him for the upcoming school year and cheer season, Barstow attended UT USA cheer camp with the Varsity Cheer Team over the summer.

“I trained with the other mascots from a bunch of different schools. We were taught all the basics to what makes a good mascot,” Barstow said. “A mascot provides comical relief to an audience during an event, and creates an image to represent the school or service you are representing.”

Bartow knew he had what it took when he preformed his entertainment and participation award winning routines in front of crowds. And although he was entertaining, he was unable to accurately represent his school.

“Since he did not have a costume, the camp provided a banana costume for him to wear and perform in for all the skits,” Coach Kalb said.

Because of the lack of Viper mascot options, Mr. Little and Coach Kalb are in discussions to have a costume made. There has been much debate over the look of the Viper costume, which could easily be mistaken for a lizard if not designed and made correctly.

“Our best idea was to have a dragon style costume that would look and act like a ‘snake’ on the field,” Coach Kalb said about discussion with Mr. Little. “Three to four people will be needed to inhabit the costume.”

The costume is currently being sketched by the graphic design class, and will then be ordered and made. This means soon there will need to be three to four more mascot candidates. But for now, Andrew Barstow continues to be one of a kind 

“Some of my friends said it was my calling to be the mascot,” Barstow said. “I am so proud to be able represent my school with pride in a way that suits me!