The Choate wild boar shows spirit in the 2016-17 lip dub recording with Kate Newhouse ’18, Matias Meszaros ’17, and Esteban Mogollan ’18.
The boar: Choate’s mascot and a ferocious, courageous, tusked, pig-like creature.
While the boar has been a long-standing mascot for Choate Rosemary Hall, the boar suit has been largely absent this year, but in past years, the boar made numerous appearances at revisit day to greet accepted students, the fall Deerfield pep rally, and games or races.
Jonathan Joei ’18, the most recent inhabitant of the boar suit, decided to “become the boar” because, as he stated, “The people who were in the boar previously seemed to have a really good time, and it just so happened that I was given the opportunity to be the boar by Mr. [LJ] Spinnato, and I figured that this was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up, so I took it.” Joei was the boar for revisit day last year and the year before that to welcome admitted students. Having an actual boar present at games or rallies truly boosts the morale of Choate students. Isabelle So ’20 agreed, saying, “I think it’s great how we have a boar suit, or someone who’s in the boar, because it really amps up the spirit during Deerfield Day to during games, and it really brings up the festivity of Choate.”
In an attempt to get rid of the negative stigma that surrounds stuffing oneself in a furry, unventilated boar suit, Joei claimed, “It’s not as bad [being in the boar suit] as people claim it to be, or people believe it to be. The cage, or the athletic center, does a good job of washing the boar, so the boar doesn’t stink. It’s not an unpleasant experience. The only bad thing is that there’s not a lot of ventilation, so you will sweat. But the main problem is, in my case, that my glasses fogged up, and I couldn’t see anything out of the boar, and with so little ventilation I was rendered blind and had to be very cognizant of where I was going.” Joei added, “You lose all peripheral vision, and you’re limited to a very tight window — between your 11:30 and your 12:30 — of vision, unless you turn your whole neck. It’s tight; it’s cramped.” Since Joei will be graduating this year, he needs someone to carry on the torch by wearing the boar suit at future events, and since the positives of being the School mascot outweigh the negatives, who wouldn’t want to be the future Choate boar? To those considering acting as the mascot, Joei recommended: “Prehydrate and stretch out — you’ll definitely need to do so to prevent cramping or fatigue. If you’re gonna be the boar, make sure the boar is at the location, because fitting into cars while wearing the boar suit is impossible.”
One of the most interesting experiences that Joei had in his boar suit-wearing days was during revisit days his sophomore year. He laid the scene, “The boar is usually kept in the art center, and what happened was I made the mistake of wearing the boar suit before heading over to the athletic center where the admission event was taking place. It was pouring rain outside, and I knew that that wouldn’t be good for the boar. And so I was wondering, ‘I already have the suit on, and there’s no one here to help me take it off, and I have to walk from the art center to the athletic center in the pouring rain in a suit that fogs up and has limited vision, so what do I do?’” Luckily enough, Joei successfully made it over to the X after barely squeezing the expansive suit into a utility van, or rather, a Ford Transit rental car. Joei, however, does not recommend to any future boar suit-wearers to attempt to fit themselves into a car smaller than a utility van while wearing the boar suit.
