The "Cheese" is out and Thunder is in.
The former Desert Vista High School mascot Boltman, casually referred to as "Cheese" because of its color and at times shapeless form, was replaced by Thunder, a new, redesigned mascot at a school assembly on Jan. 7.
The idea to get a new mascot was mulled over at the end of the 2009-10 school year. For the majority of the year, Boltman was out of commission.
Instead of paying for repairs, the school opted to design a brand-new mascot. The students were not disappointed.
"People went crazy," DV junior Julia Thatcher said during the unveiling assembly. "(Boltman) had been there for a very long time and had gotten torn up and ruined. It was expensive to fix him, so we got a new one."
Tryouts will be in a couple of weeks to see who will become Thunder, but until then coach Doug Christofis has been doing the job.
"He is definitely very alive in that costume," Thatcher, who is student body spirit director, said.
The administration and students worked with a third-party company to help design and build the mascot.
Look for Desert Vista to roll out its new and improved mascot after tryouts and around the time basketball postseason kicks off.
