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Everyone sees him but not everyone knows him. He was given the job of balancing the pressure of performance, the heat of the suit and connecting with fans.
Throughout the years the purpose of the NS Hawk is to show up at assemblies and sporting events to create excitement. The Hawk is chosen by the leadership advisor, currently Austin Ison, and occasionally the student body officers.
“Over the past two years we pretty much choose anyone willing,” Ison said. “We try to pick someone who is funny and willing to dance and get people pumped up. Each year we pick a few people who we think will be fun and will go to games and activities and are just willing.”
While some schools keep the identity of their mascots a secret, NS doesn’t.
“It’s usually a senior,” Ison said, “because they’d be more comfortable doing things, but we do have a range of kids, and this year Holden Bailey’s done it. I think it would be fun to have it be a big secret of who’s the Hawk, but we don’t, and it’s not a big deal.”
There are two current Hawks who are both sophomores, Holden Bailey and Benjamin Reyes.
“[Bailey] is a good Hawk,” Reyes said. “He’s got the shape of the Hawk and gives a lot of good school spirit.”
Bailey believes that while being the Hawk, you have to create an impact.
“I feel like we need to make more of a presence,” Bailey said. “Last year I didn’t even know we had a Hawk.”
Holding the Hawk position brings great power, but also comes with great responsibility.
“We can’t do anything dumb,” Bailey said. “We also shouldn’t disrespect the school in any way and to be appropriate.”
Those who take on the responsibility of being the mascot often find it enjoyable but difficult.
“If you want to just wear the suit it is an easy job,” Reyes said, “but if you want to actually go into being the mascot then I would say it’s pretty hard.”
With the Hawk head being 3-feet tall and the body suit made out of fur, learning tricks is a challenge.
“The heat is a struggle,” Bailey said. “I’d come out of [the costume] and I’d be covered in sweat. The head is also hard to keep on. I can’t do flips because the head might hit and it’s hard to keep it on anyways because of the straps.”
Though doing stunts and surviving the heat is hard in the costume, it doesn’t stop some Hawks from learning dances. A previous Hawk found that it was one of their favorite parts of the job.
“A Hawk should be a hundred percent involved,” previous Hawk Kaceeus Hathaway said. “Get involved with the cheer team and learn some dances and cheers. It helps you embody the Hawk more when you’re involved.”
Being the Hawk helped them to be involved which impacted their lives.
“Once everything was all on and sorted through it was a lot of fun, there’s no denying that,”Hathaway said. “As hard as it was, there were a lot of fun things that came as being the Hawk.”
Not only was being the Hawk fun, but it also brought in school spirit.
“I think it’s one way to represent our school,” Ison said. “It’s fun to have an actual representation of what we are. It gets people pumped up, even if the mascot isn’t doing a ton they bring school spirit in just to have them there and they get people up and excited.”
