UTRGV officially unveiled its mascot during the Vaquero Roundup, which took place from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday on the, Brownsville campus.
On the Edinburg campus, the mascot was unveiled during the same event, which took place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.
The mascot will help out and attend athletic events and other university happenings, according to Janet Peña, a Student Activities program adviser.
Asked what personality traits or skills she would like the mascot to show, Peña listed being approachable, friendly and making sure the public will want to take photos with the mascot.
“Wherever they go, if they’re at an athletic event they’re there to help hype up whoever’s at the game, students, communities, families, children, and get the student body and everybody hyped up for the game,” Peña said.
The mascot’s costume consists of individual items that have meanings. The scarf, which has a half-rider logo on an orange background, represents working Vaqueros; the vest has the UTRGV Athletics “V” symbol, which represents school spirit and pride; the gray and orange gloves symbolize strength and power and represent “Vaqueros building the future of the region of Texas”; the white shirt represents the beginning of UTRGV; and the modern-style cowboy boots have blue stitching representing the flow of the Rio Grande and three stars representing UTRGV, legacy institution University of Texas-Pan American and legacy institution University of Texas at Brownsville, according to the Student Activities website.
The mascot does not have a nickname yet, but Cindy Mata-Vasquez, the director of Student Activities said the mascot committee is discussing it.
“We want to leave that up to the students and so, I’m not sure when, but I’m hoping it’s in the fall semester,” Mata-Vasquez said. “We’d be [putting] a call out to students with a few suggestions is what the committee has come up with, and then maybe we would also ask them to give us suggestions as well.”
Ideally, there would be a team of mascots in order for them to be present at both campuses. Therefore, additional tryouts will be held around the middle of the first semester, according to Peña.
Students wanting to try out to be the mascot must have a 2.5 GPA if undergraduate students or 3.0 GPA if graduate students.
Mata-Vasquez wants the mascot to help students embrace that they are the present but also the future.
“It represents our past because of the different attire that it has, and the boots and all the different symbols, yet it represents our future because it’s a 21st century mascot,” she said. “I definitely wanted to embrace that for our students, that they are the present but yet they’re also our future. So, I want it to be that symbol for them that when they come back once they graduate in four years the mascot is still there.”
Peña said she hopes the students will be excited about the mascot and advises the mascot to have fun.
“They own … being a Vaquero or Vaquera, in whichever format they feel like they are,” Peña said. “I think any student that has been the mascot or wants to be a mascot, when they get in that costume, they see a different perspective in themselves and they grow in different components just because they actually learn a different part of them, that they can express themselves without being judged.”
