Vaquer@ mascot to be unveiled in the fall

UTRGV students will finally meet the Vaquer@ mascot in the fall semester.

“We are looking to host tryouts between now and this summer, so that way, the plan is to have the mascot make their appearance at [Vaquero] Roundup in August,” said Cindy Mata-Vasquez, director of Student Activities.

Students are choosing the mascot costume in online voting that began April 19 and ended at noon Monday.

Results were scheduled to be announced during Tuesday’s baseball game at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium.

“We haven’t had the tryouts, yet. So, what the committee decided to do is hold off until we get the actual costume,” Mata-Vasquez said. “Because of our university dynamic and our multitude of campuses, we may start off with one person, but the idea is to have a team. It would be a group of students. We are not sure if it’s going to two or if it’s going to be three or five. It all depends, of course, on the cost of the reproduction of the costume and things like that.”

She said the best option will be to have a student from Brownsville, Edinburg and Harlingen.

“That way, if we have a multitude of requests, let’s say they want the mascot to be at a ribbon cutting or at an athletic event, we can either send one or we can send the group because we are the Vaqueros. I think a group would be the best way to go about it,” Mata-Vasquez said.

Registration for tryouts has not opened yet but will happen before August.

“We will make sure that it’s online and available for students. If we do it over the summer, we will definitely send an email to all registered students, that way they can see it,” Mata-Vasquez said. “Even if they’re not enrolled in the summer but they’re coming back in the fall, they can try out as well.”

Requirements to be the mascot include a 2.5 cumulative GPA for undergraduate students, a 3.0 for graduate students and be enrolled full time.

“Of course, we want them to be animated and spirited, but there will be little characteristics that the mascot will embody but we will teach those,” Mata-Vasquez said. “There will be a mascot training that they will be able to attend and there will be special skills that we want them to know, like the roping and lassoing, and so, we will teach those skills.”

She said she does not want students to be intimidated to try out if they do not have the roping and lassoing skills.

“Male, female, tall, short it doesn’t matter. Whoever the mascot is, or the group of mascots are, they will be able to embody what the UTRGV student body is like,” Mata-Vasquez said.

For more information regarding the mascot, email Student Involvement at involvement@utrgv.edu.