Mascots Bring Communities Together Through School Spirit

School mascots are a lot of fun, and you can even say that some are out of this world.

The Mars Area School District recently won the National High School Mascot Bracket competition with their Fightin’ Planet mascot.

Josh Schwoebel, director of communications, said the district only became aware of the contest after the Fightin’ Planet had advanced to the Elite 8 round.

From there, it became a community effort.

“We then turned to our school community, including students, parents, families, friends, etc., for votes and support for our mascot. Our community rose to the occasion, and the Fightin’ Planet moved on to the Final Four,” Schwoebel said.

The Mars Fightin’ Planet

Next, Schwoebel organized a video with the Fightin’ Planet and the senior cheerleaders to further spread the word.

“And, our community turned out and voted the Fightin’ Planet into the Championship Round against the Boiling Springs Bubblers,” Schwoebel said.

But the work didn’t stop there — for the final round, Schwoebel worked with Mars Area Elementary School students on a mascot-themed coloring contest that asked students (grades 2-4) to finish the statement, “The Fightin’ Planet is the best high school mascot because...”

Schwoebel filmed several students reading their answers and created a video to share with the community.

“Again, we reached out to the community and put out additional videos featuring our mascot and calling for votes,” he said. “Despite some tense moments with concerns about chatbot votes, in the end the Fightin’ Planet was declared the winner! We celebrated with a big thank you to all of our school community.”

According to Schwoebel, the Fightin’ Planet is a truly unique mascot, as it is the only one in the country.

“It was only until recently that a mascot costume was created. In 2024, the Mars Cheer Boosters approached the district to design a mascot costume. With some help from Dr. Elizabeth McMahon, assistant superintendent, the mascot was unveiled in fall 2024,” he explained. “While the mascot is a Fightin’ Planet, our students, staff and community have embraced the nickname ‘Meatball.’”

Courtenay Carrel served on the Mars Cheer Board as the Mars Cheer Booster president for the past three years and helped develop and create the Mars Fightin’ Planet.

“Our cheer booster organization raised the funds for the mascot to be a part of our district, and now it’s proudly part of our community,” she said.

At Mars, they host tryouts to become the mascot.

More than one student is selected so that they can rotate in and out based on availability since there are so many events that request the presence of the mascot.

“The tryout itself is more to see if the person feels comfortable in the costume and can move around well inside. We want the person inside to be animated and to not be afraid to be silly and have fun,” Carrel said.

The Fightin’ Planet appears at as many Mars community events as possible, Carrel explained.

“If it’s a Mars community event, we want it to be in attendance to take photos and represent our great town. Also, we try to get the mascot to as many Mars athletic games as we can as well, which sometimes proves difficult since many of our student mascots are often involved in the games themselves,” she said. “We want the mascot to be a visible representation of Mars and to help hype up the crowd if the event warrants extra excitement.”

This past year, some of the events the Fightin’ Planet attended included Mars Applefest, school and PTO events, sports games, pep rallies, Mars cheer competitions and nationals, Alien Soccerfest, youth camps, Senior Nights and many more.

“The mascot definitely grew in popularity this year,” Carrel said.

The national honor for the Fightin’ Planet has created quite the buzz in the Mars community.

“We are very proud to have such a unique mascot, and we’re glad that people are talking about it after the national mascot competition. It was exciting to see the whole town rally around our Planet and vote in a contest that there wasn’t really even a prize aside from bragging rights,” Carrel said. “It was a great way to end the school year with a ton of school spirit and community pride. We are proud to have a national champion mascot.”

The Avonworth Area Antelope

All Emma Schmigel, 17, had to do was ask to be the Avonworth Antelope for the Avonworth Area School District.

“I didn’t find the pep rallies fun and realized that I wanted to be part of it,” she said.

Schmigel said that it was as “easy as asking,” and soon she found herself one of the three students who share the mascot duties.

According to Emma, those duties include representing the district at football games and other sporting events, pep rallies, senior day “clap out” and more.

Jeff Hadley, former superintendent of the district, explained that Avonworth Area School District was created in 1938 as Pennsylvania’s first union school district by combining multiple communities.

“The antelope has been the mascot for decades, although the question of when and why the antelope became the mascot remains unanswered,” he said.

In addition to the events that Schmigel named, Hadley said the primary role of the mascot is to engage the crowd at events including local parades, student of the month presentations and big events such as the district’s Chase the Antelopes 5K.

“The mascot also plays a role when the district hosts guests from outside the school district. For example, the antelope made an appearance to welcome visitors when Avonworth hosted educators from the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools in the spring of 2025,” Hadley said.

The Avonworth Antelope costume includes a “onesie” suit, the headpiece, shoe covers and gloves, along with event-appropriate props such as pom-poms for sporting events and a football jersey.

And yes, it can be hot.

“It can be terribly hot. I have to clip my bangs back to keep the sweat out of my eyes,” Schmigel laughed.

But despite the heat at certain events, serving as the Avonworth Antelope is a lot of fun.

“I get to run around and pretty much do what I want. I love it,” Schmigel said.

The LaRoche University Redhawk

High schools aren’t the only ones getting in on the mascot fun.

La Roche University’s Redhawk mascot’s duties are very similar to those at the high school level.

Hope Schiffgens, executive director for enrollment, said the Redhawk goes to athletic games and events, new student orientation, admission and recruitment events, social media campaigns and community and promotional appearances.

The Redhawk became the university’s first official mascot in 1992 when La Roche expanded its athletic facilities and revived its basketball program.

“Admissions often identifies students we feel will be a good fit for the mascot role; however, tryouts have also been part of the hiring process. We also have students who request to be the mascot,” Schiffgens said.

Students are either hired for the role through the work-study program or volunteer their time.

At any given time, there will be three to five mascots to cover all of the duties and events.

The Redhawk costume consists of a large head, the main body suit with football-like padding, wings, gloves and feet. The Redhawk also wears a branded T-shirt.

“We interview, looking for energetic, enthusiastic, outgoing, reliable individuals who exhibit a positive attitude,” Schiffgens said. “And they must also have the physical stamina to endure the hot, heavy costume. It can be a physically challenging job.”