KENTUCKY KERNEL MEDIA AUGUST 2019 ukit full page WHAT’S In side UnmaskingCON the Wildcat 6-8 Espresso Yourself 9 Getting Involved Dates to Remember TE 10-11 16-17 Become a Kernelite Tips to Talk to Your Professor 18 Study Resources 12 NTS 19 Things to Do in a Health and Wellness Advertising and Sponsors Small Town 13 20-21 2, 26-32 ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF, PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRITTANY LYDEN | STAFF Kentucky Kernel | 3 WELCOME 4 | Inside UK ARDEN BARNES | STAFF BY PHOTO WELCOME FROM THE Editor Welcome! You have finally made it. Some think ‘making it’ is graduation day but in my opinion it is making it through the summer leading up to coming to campus for the first time as a student. College is filled with so much learning and adventure but don’t get ahead of yourself with all that future talk. Live in the now and realize you have chosen the best school for your next four years. UK is not only an exciting sports school, but also a school filled with possibilities for each student no matter their interests. There is something for everyone here. Anything you can think of you can be involved in. This magazine will give you an inside look into what UK has to offer and who we are as a university community. Now dive in and take a look Inside your new school. If this publication intrigues you and you are interested in being a part of our team, come to the third floor of McVey Hall and join our Kernel Media family. See page 18 to take a look at our publications and more details on how to get involved. BRITTANY LYDEN Kentucky Kernel | 5 UNMASKING THE Wild c a t One Student’s ‘REWARDING’ Experience STORY BY BAILEY VANDIVER | PHOTOS BY JORDAN PRATHER The Wildcat walked off the field at the away from graduating, making it his last opportunity. football stadium, the surrounding stands ever event as the Wildcat. “That was a After an informational meeting, the empty. Inside the suit was Ross Boggess, sad moment,” he said. first step for prospective Wildcats and and he was about to take it off for the last ‘You’re just a naked cat running Scratches (the other mascot here at UK) time. It wasn’t a football game that had around’ was a face-to-face interview. The inter- just ended but the College of Agricul- In the winter of 2015, Grant Boggess viewee sat on a Gatorade cooler, Boggess ture Field Day— which was “a cool saw a flyer for mascot tryouts in the said— evidence of the casual nature of reconnect” for Boggess. He had been the engineering quad. He sent a picture to his the process. Wildcat for all four years of his college brother Ross, who was a senior in high That didn’t stop the interviewers from career, and he worked that same event as school. “drilling” him with questions, though, the Wildcat as a freshman. “I think he kind of sent it to me as a about his work ethic and more about him. Plus, as a community leadership and joke,” Boggess said. “I was like, ‘Heck At that point, the cheer team was more development major, he is a College of Ag yeah, I’m going to do it.’” concerned with making sure Boggess student. Boggess said it’s pretty rare for some- was a quality person, not yet if he could It was neat, he said, but it was also one to try out as a high school senior be a good mascot. bittersweet. Boggess was just weeks because few people know about the “Kentucky cheer is super, super good 6 | Inside UK “The way I see it is you take the burden off of everyone else so you can enjoy being a mascot. You just make sure that everybody else is having a fun time because if the mascot’s not having a good time, nobody’s having a good time.” • ROSS BOGGESS • at picking quality people,” Boggess said. said. “We just… try not to be too boister- a good time.” “T. Lynn Williamson (cheer adviser) is ous about it.” Boggess held that position until last amazing at finding who the right person Boggess said he got in a little bit of summer, when he passed the role down is, and I’m so thankful that he picked trouble his freshman or sophomore year to someone new so they could learn me.” for sharing a photo of Wildcat on his per- before Boggess graduated. Looking back at the second part of the sonal page. “They were like ‘No, Wildcat As head Wildcat, Boggess received a interview, when the candidates “suit up,” is Wildcat, it’s not Ross,’” he said. “And full-tuition scholarship. Other members Boggess joked that he’s not sure why so I’ll always introduce myself as ‘I’m of the mascot team have partial schol- they did. Ross, I’m one of the Wildcats.’” arships, with the amount depending on He said he was awkward— and that At first, Boggess said he was really ex- seniority and other factors. “You have the there was something a little humiliating cited to be the Wildcat. But then he real- most scholarship, so you have the most about the experience. “They don’t give ized he’s not. Instead, he’s one of several responsibility,” he said. the mascot any clothes to wear,” he said. students who perform as the Wildcat. ‘One of the coolest things’ “You’re just a naked cat running around “Even though you get to feel like Over his college career, Boggess had the gymnastics room in the Seaton you are so cool when you’re in the suit, put on a little weight— and the male Center.” you’re just protecting the image for the cheerleaders who hold him up in the The next day, Boggess performed a next person,” he said. “And it’s a cool Wildcat pyramid pointed it out to him. prepared skit, based on the movie Fro- thing where Wildcat has its own person- “So I made sure to lose some weight for zen, which had just come out. ality that we get to turn Ross into.” NCAAs,” Boggess joked. “But they liter- Both Wildcat and Scratch are per- He said it didn’t come naturally to ally hold me up and are great people.” formed by several students, and Boggess him, but he learned to separate the Boggess said Wildcat pyramid is one joined as one of the Wildcats. celebrity status from his own identity of his favorite parts of the job and is one All of his fellow mascots that year and fulfill his role as a “guardian” of the of the things he will miss most. were older than he was, meaning the last mascot. “It’s one of the coolest things,” he of them graduated last year. “We were Another role that Boggess began play- said. “As you’re up in pyramid, every- just the crew,” he said. “We loved it so ing in the second semester of his fresh- body else in the audience starts standing much.” man year was head Wildcat, meaning up and clapping.” ‘I’m Ross, one of the Wildcats’ it is his responsibility to coordinate the Once the Wildcat is back on solid The students behind Albert and Alber- mascots to be where they are supposed ground, it’s straight into the UK fight ta Gator, the mascots at the University to be. song. of Florida, reveal themselves by wearing He was the youngest of that year’s “(It’s) definitely classically condi- the hands and feet of the costume to “litter”— which isn’t actually a term tioned me to just love our fight song, and graduation. used to refer to the mascots team, but he it perks me up anytime I hear it now.” At Bowling Green State, the mascot is said it should be. He said it took him a While the cheerleaders share their decapitated at the hockey rink, revealing while to get used to being the youngest enthusiasm by smiling all the time, the who is in the suit. but in a position of leadership, but head mascots use their body language. In a somewhat less dramatic fashion, Wildcat is based on responsibility, not on “People ask if we smile in the suit, Boggess posted on Facebook a few seniority. and you’re like, ‘Sometimes…’” he weeks before he graduated, alluding to “The way I see it is you take the bur- said. “But in a lot of ways, Wildcatting his role as the Wildcat. Before that, he den off of everyone else so you can enjoy is a workout. It’s going up and down the didn’t “broadcast” it on social media, he being a mascot…” Boggess said. “You stairs or running around the concourse, said— none of the students who perform just make sure that everybody else is and you don’t think about like, last time I as Wildcat or Scratch do. having a fun time because if the mascot’s worked out, was I smiling?” “Our close friends know,” Boggess not having a good time, nobody’s having The Wildcat has a specific walk: “a Kentucky Kernel | 7 strut with a little extra swagger,” Bog- The first Wildcat mascot, Gary Tan- digital cameras. gess said. ner, appeared on UK sidelines in 1976. Now, in the age of smartphones, ev- As for Scratch, his is more “boppy”— For many years, the first male student eryone has a picture with the Wildcat.