At almost every home football game, the Salida High School mascots are getting rowdy, cheering our teams on and hyping up the crowd, making the game more fun for everyone. Even though keeping fans engaged is a hard thing to do, the mascots do a great job. The mascots can always hear cheering and encouragement from not only the students but adults as well.

“You have to hype the crowd up a lot, which is more difficult than it seems cause some of them do not want to get hyped,” states Sparty.

At the beginning of this year, the doom club- a group with ten to fifteen dedicated students promoting school spirit and pride-put on an audition, asking participants various questions. Two students are our mascots now, and they switch out during the middle of games. 

“I think school spirit comes from going to a pretty cool high school. I’m very grateful for that, and I want to participate in things, and I also feel like I’ll have more fun if I’m being all spirity and Spartany,” said Sparty.

The mascots have struggled with the costume being extremely uncomfortable since it’s hot, and whoever is wearing it gets super sweaty. The material is made of leather so it’s also sticky. For the second person using the costume, it smells bad and is drenched in sweat. But there are some good parts of being the mascot as well. Connecting with the community and seeing new faces is also fun for the mascots.

“It’s a good way to get out in the community and get the highschool experience. I’ve gotten to know so many new people,” Sparty said. 

All of the fall sports’ teams have experienced growth in one way or another. Sparty and the students of SHS have all contributed to that by building confidence and helping teams do well with the power of school spirit. If ever in doubt, call Sparty.