July 20, 2007

James Joyce III
Yakima Herald-Republic

LIZ MARTIN/Yakima Herald-Republic Melanie Carolan, 16, a Toledo High School junior and the face inside the giant head of mascot Chief Ike, rests Thursday after the morning session of mascot training at CheerLEADERship Camp at Nicholson Pavilion on the Central Washington University campus.

ELLENSBURG - The Mighty Cadet doesn't talk. That's a tough concept to swallow for the 16-year-old Eisenhower High School student who will don the outfit of the school's mascot this year.

"I like to talk a lot," said the de-masked Cadet.

Not talking is just one of the many challenges the Cadet's alter ego and five other students from high schools around the state are learning about at the CheerLEADERship Camp being held at Central Washington University this week.

Whether it's performing floor-sliding skills, exciting the crowd or being an animated pantomime, serving as a high school mascot is "not just being crazy."

"It's about leading a school down a good path," said Joe Fenbert, who oversees communication and curriculum for the Association of Washington School Principals' student leadership program, which sponsors the annual camp.

While the cheerleading camp has been held for nearly 50 years, this is only the second year it has included training specific to mascots.

As more than 500 high school cheerleaders broke from the morning pep rally Thursday in CWU's Nicholson gym, the penultimate day of camp, six faces emerged from the crowd that didn't exactly fit the form. The group, led by Heather Meiers, West Coast mascot staff for the National Cheerleading Association, was sequestered in a dance hall toward the back of the Nicholson Pavilion building.

"Some of these kids are the quietest kids in person--the second they get into that character, a whole different person comes out," Meiers said.

Some schools try to be discreet about the identity of the student behind the mascot.

"Since no one knows who I am, I can be someone totally different (in character)," said the 14-year-old student who will fill the suit of Louie the Lion for Kennewick High School this year.

"It's like bringing the inner person out," he said.

But for others like Jeremy Hubbell, 17, who is Captain Scallywag -- the first-ever mascot at the 200-student Adna High School -- that discretion doesn't come so easily.

"Everyone knows me," Hubbell said.

Still, there is an understood code of conduct for being a mascot.

After the six mascots finished a silent skit exercise to work on their nonverbal expressions, an exaggerated gasp suddenly echoed in the dance room.

"Whose spirit stick is on the ground?" asked Melanie Carolan, who doubles as Chief Ike for the Toledo High School Indians.

"Oh, you're going to Hades," Louie the Lion joked.

"You never let your spirit get that low. You're not supposed to let it touch the ground," Chief Ike explained with an ingrained familiarity.

Among the other codes is never removing the character's head in front of anyone -- though that rule is slightly relaxed at camp -- despite the hot and stuffy conditions in the costume.

"It takes dedication to stay in character," Meiers said.

Many of the costumes have small fans in the head to keep the occupants cool while in character, but the batteries wear down quickly, Captain Scallywag explained.

While at the weeklong camp, the mascots in training -- most of them first-timers -- choreographed a dance routine for their final chant activities. Through the process, many of the characters learned about movement and how to say a lot without saying a word.

That camp was also the first time for most of the mascots to work with their cheer squads, which provided a chance for team building.

"As for the mascot, I think he helps motivate us and keep the crowd's energy high and keep the right attitude," said Carly Cole, 17, a captain on Eisenhower's cheer team.

And for many of the teams from around the state, the camp also introduced them to a cadet.

"They think the Cadet is a pirate," The Mighty Cadet said while playfully rolling his unmasked eyes. After all, the Eisenhower Cadets' biggest rival is the cross-town Davis Pirates. It probably didn't help his cause that this year's theme for the camp is pirates.

Once the masks go on and the characters emerge, if there were ever a question about the purpose of the camp and the technical and leadership training it provides, the words along the gym wall where they spent most of their days this week said it all:

"Ye be warned, thar be spirit here!"