TJHSST to Unveil New Mascot at Back to School Bash

Parents and students in the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) community can expect to see a new face in the crowds this year. During their Back to School Bash on Thursday, Sept. 1, the school is unveiling their new mascot, Mr. Thomas Jefferson.

The mascot is a gift from the senior class of 2011, who donated the $5,000 to purchase Mr. Thomas Jefferson. “It had come to the end of the school year and we had to start thinking about a senior gift that would represent our class as well as benefit the school. Mr. [Shawn] DeRose came to us with the idea to buy a new mascot for the school,” said All Herman, one of the class of 2011 officers, via e-mail.

Herman said class officers Calvin Hartanto, Jamie Kim, Liana Cramer, Benedict Nguyen, Daniella Miller, and Brianna Kim and class council (Chris Gibson, Nate Skolnik, and Tiffany Wu) all helped choose the senior gift would be along with faculty sponsors, Michael Miller and Jennifer Pierce, and DeRose, who is the athletic director for TJHSST.

Mr. Thomas Jefferson, or Mr. Jefferson, was modeled after the Washington Nationals’ Thomas Jefferson mascot, part of the baseball team’s popular Racing Presidents, and created by the same maker, Randy Carfagno of Randy Carfagno Productions in New York.

It took Carfagno a total of six to seven weeks to create Mr. Jefferson for TJHSST. Carfagno said Mr. Jefferson was created as a smaller version of their standard puppets, which are usually 12 feet tall or larger, so that he could fit through a high school doorway. The hair is made of stretch velvet and stitched into the head to look realistically like hair.

“It’s a lot of work to do, but it looks so much like real hair,” Carfagno said about the mascot. Mr. Jefferson's face is sculpted out of dense foam while the body is made out of an athletic net.

To make the costume easier to wear, the head and body of Carfagno’s puppets are supported with a backpack. “We call them backpack puppets because you’re literally wearing the mascot. Our biggest concern is always safety, but we want to make sure you get the full impact of the mascot as well,” said Carfagno.

Although Mr. Jefferson is replacing the school’s former mascot Mr. Colonial, which was also a class gift from about a few years ago, DeRose said Mr. Colonial will continue to be an active member of the TJ community. "Mr. Colonial is alive and well and will co-exist with Mr. Jefferson," said DeRose.

DeRose said he is excited to unveil the mascot to the TJHSST community, a sentiment shared by Herman, who said the class is pleased with their gift. “We are very happy and very proud of our new mascot,” said Herman.

The Back to School Bash is on Thursday, Sept. 1 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be music, food, games and live music before the school’s first home varsity football game against Falls Church High School.