A school meeting drones on, students slowly slipping into Morpheus’s embrace, when, out of the blue, a shout rends the air, stirring them out of their stupor. “PUT YOUR EAGLES UP!”

The sound echoes through the gym, and soon, thumbs are joined together, hands placed in a semblance of wings, raised into the air; few at first, but more and more join, until a veritable congress is soaring through the air above the bleachers. As the sports teams and scores are announced, a figure captures and keeps everyone’s attention, sometimes mimicking sports, or running from side to side, directing the crowd into a wave. This is, of course, our very own Harker Eagle.

Beyond lending its visage to the upper school’s athletic team names, Harker’s eagle mascot can be found represented in programs like Eagle Buddies and statues and images around campus, such as those painted annually for homecoming or the centerpiece of the Howard Nichols Court in the athletic center.

When Davis Field was resurfaced this summer with new turf and infill, the eagle logo at the center of the field was also redesigned to have a simpler and more stylized look.

“We wanted to get a more stylized eagle logo with fewer colors, something that’s a little simpler that still shows a little fierceness and competitiveness,” athletic director Dan Molin said of the motivation behind its new style. “We wanted to just simplify it a little more, get a cleaner look.”

In the past year, the eagle mascot has made an appearance at school meetings as well. While student presenters from spirit announce scores from sports games in the past week, a person in the eagle costume mimes throwing a football or swinging a club or racket, runs across the court floor or prompts the crowd to do the wave.

“I think a lot of students are having a lot of fun just being amused by the eagle,” eagle update announcer Adhya Hoskote (11) said. “Before, when the eagle wasn’t there, it was kind of boring to just sit and listen to statistics of who scored what for different teams, so I think the eagle’s really made people pay attention and have fun during the eagle update, which is what our goal was in the beginning.”

This new eagle costume, with gray fur, a smiling beak and feathery wings, is a recent addition to the upper school spirit arsenal, concurrent with the opening of the athletic center in September 2017.

“When we updated the gym and updated our athletics logo, they also decided to update the eagle costume,” spirit president Zach Hoffman (12) said. “We got a brand new one and we thought it would be a cool addition [to eagle update], especially when we started our eagle updates in the gym.”

The eagle mascot spreads school spirit across all four of Harker’s campuses, embodying the outlook of not just the school athletic teams but its community.

“I think it represents toughness. It represents resilience. It represents a willingness to work together,” Molin said. “At homecoming, the little kids love [the costume]. It promotes spirit. Every school has a mascot and a mascot costume, and it’s just meant to be fun.”