BY APOLLINE BERTY

In print | Published March 6, 2008

Certain buildings around campus have been “feathered” in anticipation of the spring arrival of the college’s phoenix mascot. The mascot is currently in production and tryouts will be held on March 29 to fill the bird suit.

The date of the mascot’s debut is being kept under wraps, but the phoenix is scheduled to arrive before the end of the semester. The phoenix will make several unexpected appearances throughout the semester before the official release.

“We’re not actually releasing a date as to that yet, it’s going to be more a surprise,” Mascot Committee member Kyle White ‘08 said. "That’s generally how we’ve been leading the campaign this semester, more elusive, kind of secretive in a way, trying to get students more engaged in it."

While the Mascot Committee wishes to keep the design secret, it has hinted as to what the mascot will look like. “When you think of a phoenix, you think immediately of fire, flames, all that. Transpose those ideas directly to a mascot, just think of one big flame upward,” White said of the mascot design.

The school has contracted with Raymond Entertainment for the development and training of the mascot, as well as for the creation of a personality for the mascot. “[It’s] a little bit more quirky, rumpled, casual, approachable, I guess not so much in your face kind of mascot, but more family friendly,” White said, “If you want to kind of transpose that into maybe the look of the mascot, its feathers might be a little out of place here and there and it has a backpack.”

The mascot’s appearances will be orchestrated by a team consisting of the mascot character, an escort and a mascot coordinator. Assistant Director of Student Life and Academic Counselor Kelly Wilcox ‘97 will oversee the mascot administrators. "We’re creating a system similar to the Party Associates … when requests come in, I’ll sit down with the mascot coordinator and decide when and where the mascot will show up," Wilcox said.

Wilcox emphasized the thoroughness of the developing process. “We could’ve done it in three months, if we’d picked from a catalogue, but it took over a year because we wanted to do it right, to be a reflection of Swarthmore values, to enhance what’s good about Swat,” Wilcox said. “We probably went with the most respected mascot designer and trainer out there, [Raymond Entertainment] was the original Philly Fanatic,” Wilcox said. Raymond Entertainment provides not only the design and fabrication of the mascot, but also a training camp for the mascot[s]-to-be.

The training camp, located 30 minutes away from campus in Wellington, Delaware, will take place either during the summer or right before the end of the semester, depending on the availability of the mascot. “The training camp will prepare the students who fill the costume for the physical aspects of the job, as well as any difficult situations they might run into … and the social aspects, such as crowd enhancement,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox also expressed her hope of eventually having the college train new generations of mascots itself, but until then aspiring mascots will benefit from the high quality training provided by Raymond Entertainment.

Tryouts to be Swarthmore’s first mascot will take place on March 29, incidentally the same day as Sager, though at a different time. “Hopefully people see [the tryouts] as a warm up to the night,” Wilcox said. The Mascot Committee is hoping that students will still come and participate. “We encourage people to come be in the audience. Part of the tryouts will be audience and crowd interaction, so we definitely need a good crowd there with lots of energy to get it going,” Wilcox said.

Housing coordinator Liz Derickson ’01 mentioned some of the qualities desirable in a mascot representative such as “a stage presence, a real ability to be lively, to connect with people, to inspire a crowd.” White explained that in order to gauge these attributes there would be a small dance competition and a crowd pepping competition, along with other yet to be determined activities.

This first tryout will be open to the campus and will be “very American Idol, America’s Next Top Model kind of a thing,” White said. The next day a closed tryout will take place amongst the five or ten finalists. Each participant will wear the mascot suit, so as to make the judging process fair. “We will never know who is actually in the suit,” White said.

Those interested in being a mascot can sign up for the Saturday, March 29 audition by e-mailing Kyle White at kwhite1@swarthmore.edu. “Some people may be hesitant to nominate themselves so we’re also taking nominations,” White said. Either Kyle White or Kelly Wilcox may be contacted with any questions.

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