For the past three years senior, Nate Lockhart has been the face of Southmoreland. He runs around, getting the crowd pumped for the Fright night football game. He knows all of the cheers and loves to make the crowd smile. But in the Scottie mascot costume, Lockhart is a different person. “The crowd doesn’t think of who is inside the costume. They see the mascot as a character.”

Lockhart is an entertainer. “To take role of a mascot one has to be in shape, have a good personality, and keep a secret.” One of Lockhart’s favorite things to do is interact with children. At parades, kids are running around and they get to shake hands or high-five the Southmoreland Scottie.

Lockhart was introduced to this activity by Nicki Sherbondy and fell in love with it.

“The first few games were nerve wracking. It takes a while to get used to the suit. You have to make it fit you,” Lockhart said. He gets the crowd cheering by dancing around and doing flips. Lockhart’s sophomore year, his older brother Phil was a senior member of the marching band.  

“This gave me the opportunity to interact with the band more. It was really special to spend that time with my brother,” Nate said.

“Since the crowd doesn’t know who is in the suit, I can get away with pretty much anything and never get in trouble,”  Lockhart laughed.

Lockhart steals megaphones from the opposing team’s cheerleaders and interacts with the other mascots.

“When we played Washington I coordinated with their mascot to have a dance off and a fight,” he said.

The student sections show great amounts of school pride when their school is being represented through these characters. They cheer their mascot on while supporting their team and school. Facing rivals can get interesting for Lockhart.

“I’ve had water bottles thrown at me by the student section, but it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “The more they mess with me, the more I mess with them.”

In his three years of being the mascot, Lockhart has created his own character of the Southmoreland Scottie. He has a very exciting energy that the school and community has come to love.

“I want our next mascot to take what I’ve done and make it better,” he said. “They should have fun and represent Southmoreland with excitement and pride.”