Maya Jackson

After almost a decade of passing on the unwashed four-piece mascot uniform, the 2016-2017 class will be the first to see the clean new uniform cheering on the sidelines.

Costing approximately $4,200, the new mascot uniform is composed of 10 separate pieces and has a built-in fan. Though there were hopes of getting the new mascot uniform before the 2016 Salt Bowl, this did not go according to plan.

“It took us much longer than expected to get the new uniform,” senior Dylan Davis said. “I told Mrs. Watson about how the new mascot uniform hadn’t actually been ordered like we thought it had, and she said that I should just give her all of the information and S.W.A.R.M would pay for it instead of the school.”

Anatomy teacher and S.W.A.R.M sponsor Janet Watson had previously made sure that buying a new mascot uniform was approved, and spoke to Dr. Pickering about the ordering discrepancy and the payment method.

“Dr. Pickering paid for the mascot uniform before he left,” Watson said. “S.W.A.R.M had offered to pay a part of the total cost, but Dr. Pickering said that he would make sure it was paid for. We got the uniform last week.”

Though the new uniform is here, the person who is to wear it has yet to be chosen.

“We have a meeting next week to decide if we want to go ahead and vote on who is going to wear the uniform next year, or if we will just wait to vote next year,” Davis said. “With the old mascot uniform, we just kind of let it get passed around, but because this one is new, we want to make sure that whoever wears it takes care of it.”

The new uniform, still referred to as Buzz, is officially the new high school mascot. It is being discussed whether or not the old Buzz will be given to the middle school, who has borrowed it occasionally in the past.