Verilu Infante 
Brownsville- On June 12th, UTRGV unveiled the official design for its brand new mascot. The mascot, a male Vaquero, will represent the University as chosen by it’s students.
Soon after it was shown that a male mascot would represent the university’s students, talk began on social media about making the mascot more inclusive to females. We asked Student Program Advisor Janet Peña about her thoughts on these statements.
“Vaqueros does represent gender neutral. Vaqueros are a group of people. No matter if you’re female or male, once we get together we’re all Vaqueros,” said Peña.
The mascot made its first ever in-person debut at the Vaquero Roundup in Brownsville. New incoming students got to be some of the first to see the mascot in person. Their thoughts seemed to be different than those online.
“Honestly, I really did like the new mascot, it looks really great. I’m really happy with the new mascot,” said UTRGV student Ruben Loza.
Even a female student didn’t seem to mind a Vaquero representing her.
“I think the term Vaquero is gender neutral so a Vaquero could mean a Vaquera too. It doesn’t really matter to me,” said Mariana Garza.
At its debut appearance, both female and male students welcomed the mascot cheerfully.
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