Razor the Shark is not majoring in anything, but he is always on campus. He doesn’t just hang out here, he has represented NSU at games and campus events as the university’s mascot since 2005.
As a young shark, I had always dreamed of becoming a mascot at a prestigious university. There is something about rallying behind the home team and leading the crowd in cheers that appealed to me.
In 2005, I was contacted by NSU’s athletic department and asked to serve as the school’s new mascot. I was ecstatic. Although I had no idea of what would come during the next several years, I was proud to serve as NSU’s first Razor the Shark.
When I arrived on the NSU campus, I was awestruck by how beautiful and diverse it was. I was a little nervous about how my first night on the job would go and the impression I would make on NSU fans. Thankfully, the season kicked off with a bang and the NSU community made me feel right at home.
I’ll never forget the exhilarating feeling I had when I stepped onto the volleyball court for the first time. That night marked the first of many games I would spend jumping, cheering, dancing and falling for NSU athletics.
My greatest moments include interacting with the fans at the home games. Basketball games are probably where I had a lot of great highlights. There was the time I broke the broom to wipe the sweat and water off the court. Then there was a time when the opposing team threw our player into the water cooler and I brought out boxing gloves from the locker room. And there were the times I would dive in the middle of the court toward the opposing teams’ benches to the “Jaws” theme and end with the dance of the year like “the Jerk” or the “Soulja Boy” or would imitate Michael Jackson.
Other than basketball games, NSU community events such as NSU CommunityFest, new student orientation and open house were exciting because they gave me an opportunity to represent NSU to those who were interested in attending the school. My mannerisms, like sneaking up on people and scaring them or holding on to people’s ankles while they were walking, were always funny.
The greatest highlight of being Razor, though, was being with the kids and seeing how excited they got when they saw me or how they got scared of me and cried hysterically and loudly and ran back to their parents.
Overall, there have been so many highlights of being NSU’s mascot that I can’t describe them all. Every time I am on campus, my goal is to represent NSU to the fullest and make sure that everyone around me is smiling and having fun!
