UTRGV’s Spirit Program will conduct a second tryout for the mascot at 4 p.m. Friday in the UREC second-floor conference room in Edinburg.
In the first search, held last July, only one student tried out to be the school mascot. No one has been selected. Tryouts will consist of a skit the candidate will have to perform.
“We recommend that they look at other university’s [mascot skits],” said Janet Peña, the student program adviser for the Spirit Program. “There’s a lot of them on YouTube, varsity websites. And, they should create a skit.”
The skit should be no more than two to three minutes. Several judges, between two and three coaches, will decide will evaluate the candidate.
“Tryouts are closed and private just because it is very hard for anybody to perform in front of other people,” Peña said.
Cameras and other people will not be allowed during auditions.
“The requirements, besides what a Vaquero is supposed to be and a Vaquero should embody, they just have to be energetic,” Peña said. “They have to be able to communicate with their body language.”
Candidates should make sure their body language and facial expressions match the feelings they are trying to portray.
“If they are mad, their whole body is mad,” she said. “If they’re happy, their whole body is happy. It’s a little hard, but that’s what a mascot [portrays].”
Interested students must fill out an application to try out for the school mascot and submit it via email to spirit@utrgv.edu before Friday. Applicants must be enrolled as graduate or undergraduate full-time students and have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 2.5.
“We would like to start with one mascot … and then, hopefully, have a group of students because it is hard to be one at multiple locations,” Peña said.
There are currently no scheduled mascot reveals or appearances.
“It all depends on how tryouts go,” Peña said. “And, then … if we have a group of students that actually try out and from those we can choose.”
Training will be provided. After, the mascot will be fitted for the Vaquero costume. The costume is gray with orange accents.
The mascot will attend the women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
It has not yet been decided whether the mascot will be paid or given a scholarship, according to Peña.
For more information about tryouts, visit https://www.utrgv.edu/involvement/student-activities/spirit-program/vaquero-mascot/index.htm.
