On August 22, 2022, the first day of school, students were welcomed by Clayton High School’s brand new mascot. Inside of the greyhound suit, Beacan Mottl, CHS junior, hyped up students on their way into school. Mottl stood outside greeting everyone until he left for his first period class. He walked in absolutely drenched in sweat. Mottl said, “Everyone I had an interaction with was relatively positive and energetic with a few people being shy and embarrassed.”

The mascot has only made a few appearances in the first month of the school year. Najee Holmes, CHS junior, filled the role at the home football game against Westminster Christian Academy. Holmes interacted with the CHS fans, danced with the band, and cheered with the cheerleaders. “Having a mascot boosts the fans’ love for our team,” he said.

The greyhound has been in the works since this past July, but CHS has been trying to possess a high quality mascot for much longer. Steve Hutson, CHS Athletic Director, said, “[In the past], We had a greyhound mascot that was lacking in quality. It really didn’t look like a greyhound which equated to not many people wanting to volunteer to wear it.”

A main aim of T’shon Young, CHS Coordinator of Athletics and Activities, and Hutson was to maximize school spirit and participation. A noticeable change so far this year, not only at CHS but also at Wydown Middle School, is the attempt to create a more competitive sports environment. These efforts include the retraction of the no cut policy, a change in sports possibilities at Wydown, the CHS sports app, and spreading news on CHS sporting events. The new mascot marked an important step to that goal.

Students in the Art department took part in the composition process of the new mascot along with a design team. Their inspiration came from a questionnaire filled out by Hutson with an overall idea on how he and Young wanted the mascot to appear.

Besides having fun, there are no perks or rewards for filling the role of being inside of the greyhound, but Hutson said, “If we have students who continue to work games for us, we will definitely come up with incentives.”