The Woodlands High School is famous for its unique mascot, a Scottish Highlander. After the graduation of our latest Highlander, Grady Barrows, the torch has been passed to none other than Reid Treutle!
Reid Treutle is a devoted Junior at our school. He has played the clarinet in both the band’s marching and concert seasons since his freshman year. His time in band has made him accustomed to long, grueling hours in the hot sun. This time, and the teamwork that comes with it, has prepared him to become a great Woodlands Highlander.
Treutle decided to try out for the mascot position after receiving intense encouragement from the previous mascot, Barrows. Being the school’s mascot, to him, “sounded like a fun thing to do”: it helped, too, that he wouldn’t have “to pick [his] electives.”
The audition process wasn’t easy. Treutle was closely mentored by Barrows, a process that, he admits, was, at first “ just Grady, like, yelling at me about my skit,” with the interview questions as a later focus.
Going into the audition, Treutle was understandably nervous. However, his nerves didn’t come from the other competitors. Instead of “competition, per se,…[he] had Sam,” and that “it was more like [they ran] together rather than against each other.”
Despite there only one being able to be one mascot, there was no bad blood. During his audition, the “entire skit went horribly,” Treutle reports, “the props broke, and they laughed at me.” He wasn’t sure whether that was a good sign. However he feels he saved it with his interview. When asked why he wanted to be the mascot, he answered that he wanted to be a “light to others.”
Ultimately, his time in band proved helpful: despite his reservations, Treutle was chosen as mascot.
Quickly, Treutle has found that being the mascot affects more than just the game. Even though the school year started only a few weeks ago, Treutle has found that his role as mascot has already become a large part of his life. He’s also found that other people have picked up on this too: he reported that sometimes, even before the school year started, when walking “through the streets [people would be] like, ‘That’s the mascot!’”
Many would find this attention annoying, but not Reid Treutle. He said that he enjoys having people “actually know who [he is] now,” adding that the fame is “a nice plus.”
But Treutle doesn’t want to be just your average mascot, he wants to change the game. When asked about his goal for this year, he expressed an interest in reforming pep rallies. He doesn’t want to just “[line] up, [say] ‘My name’s Reid Treutle, I’m the high school mascot, and we have a football game this Friday.’”
He believes “nobody [would care] for that ’cause it’s 10:21 in the morning, and they don’t want to be there.” Instead, he wants to use his position to bring real pep to our pep rallies. One way he wants to do this is by getting the student section involved more, saying that students might be more interested if there was a ”chance to actually get involved in a pep rally or football game.”
Treutle is aware that his goal is ambitious, but he is determined to improve the experience of the student population. His wish for this year is for students to be “a little bit more active” in school activities, and show even more school spirit.
Bringing spirit and energy to a class of over 4,000 people is one daunting task, but with Treutle’s enduring personality and boundless energy, I couldn’t think of anyone who could do it better!
