This school year Lakeview has had a successful football season, especially with Buster leading the charge! The last time we had a “Buster” was 2019! This year Buster is leading us off to a great start with school spirit!

The mascot of the year 2022, is me, Junior Saige Muresan. I attend all of the football games and even learned the cheer dances. I chose to be the mascot because I wanted an experience like no other. However, this all started as a joke!

The last time we had a mascot was right before covid. Since we have started this school year with no Covid restrictions I wanted to contribute to that. I thought and thought about what I would do and then it hit me at the Liberty football game.

I ran into their mascot as we were winning 14-0 at the Liberty football game! I was talking to him about what it is like and he told me how enjoyable it was. Naturally, I thought we wouldn’t have one this football season, so I brought this up with Principle Lawrence Herrholtz.

Herrholtz said, “You can’t do everything, Saige”.

I went on to think “watch me”. From that day on and continuous conversation and lots of planning the next Friday night, Buster made his return.

I had again brought the idea up to Athletic Director Ron Dejulio and he said, “If you want to you can, I’ll give you the costume Friday.”

So on Friday, September 9th, I walked into the band room and Dejulio was right, there it was –  Buster!

There were not many “Busters” before me but one of them was Jeffrey Jiang. Jiang was the mascot for the whole football season in 2019. Everyone loved him and he showed lots of school spirit.

Jiang said, “Being the Mascot was an amazing experience that helps to develop character and personality. As someone who was not very outgoing and school spirited due to my lack of interest in sports, being the mascot was a great segway.”

Jiang goes on to say, “Having a mascot was a big deal for our school since we hadn’t had one in a few years. It was a great way to express myself and engage with different social groups I typically never got along with.”

I am now in the same boat Jiang was. There hasn’t been a mascot in a few years and school spirit is more than a big deal! With everyone trying to get back into the routine of “no covid” this has been more than a great way to help with school spirit.

The process of getting the costume on is a little difficult if you are on a time crunch. The first thing I do is make sure I have every single part of the costume. Next, I put on the body, and my friend Brianne Davis zips it up and straps the velcro pieces together. Then it is the feet, head, and gloves.

During the game, I usually take about 3 breaks. One during 2nd quarter, usually 2 during 3rd quarter depending on how long the game lasts. During these breaks, I can not show that the head is off the costume so the little kids do not see. I usually go inside or if it is a quick water break, I’ll go beyond the band shell.

Being the mascot is more than fun besides being absolutely hot in there. It is very hard to do a lot during a short period of time. So usually I take it slow during the first half of the game and in the second half, I am wild.

The only downside to being in this costume besides how hot it is, is not having peripheral vision. I have to turn my head 90 degrees each time someone is saying something to me or to even see to either my left or right side.

Despite all the downsides to being a mascot, I still love what I do. I enjoy showing school spirit and I enjoy being able to do this for our school. I wouldn’t change a thing.