Mascot Madness: How well do you know Stinger? Do you know his secret?

How much do you know about your favorite Hornet?

Mascot Madness is right around the corner! Voting begins on March 14 for Round 1, and we’ll be sure to share a link for voting as soon as we have it.

Meanwhile, here’s a primer — including his deep, dark secret.

• What is your name and what school do you represent?

Hi there! I am Stinger the Hornet, proud insect overlord — uh, mascot — of SUNY Broome Community College in Binghamton, New York, also known as the best, most artsy city upstate. Well, to the hive, anyway.

• What was your favorite athletics moment at school from the past year?
  

  Hey, a Hornet has to have wheels, right?

That’s always so tough to pick, but I have to go with our Lady Hornets tennis team, who once again captured the Region III championship title and played some great games at Nationals in Georgia. My runner-up is all the fun faculty-versus-student games we have going on: Basketball, softball and volleyball just in the past year! Who can resist a chance to best their professor on the court?

• If you could major in any one subject at SUNY, what would it be and why?

Bzzzzzzness. I can’t help it. It’s just the sound I make. Although I must say Engineering Science would be a close second — so I can turn my Hornet hive into a super-sustainable papier-mache mansion! Hold that carbon footprint, please.

• If you could teach one class at SUNY, what would it be and why?

I’d like to take flight and teach one of our adventure courses — that take you out of the classroom and into the wild! Teaching our BIO 200 course — Ecology of the Everglades — would be the ultimate dream. In this course, we get to go on an extensive wilderness camping experience in the Everglades National Park for some hands-on learning. And it’s warm, so Hornets can live outside year-round.

• What is your favorite breakfast cereal to eat in the morning?

Honey Nut Cheerios. I like to sit, eat my cereal, and stare at the box think about how at least one insect is represented on breakfast cereals. Why it is always chubby bees, I couldn’t say. Wasps are leaner and meaner and just plain cooler.

• What is your favorite topping to put on an ice cream or frozen yogurt sundae?
  

  Graduation is everyone’s favorite day in the Hive!

I have a big sweet tooth and soda plus ice cream is the best dessert! Our Hospitality Program students have this super-sweet sugary soda recipe they call Hornet Juice. Plunk some vanilla ice cream down in a mug of Hornet Juice, and you’re good to go all the way through finals!

• In your free time, what is your favorite NY activity to do?

I live in the “Carousel Capital of the World” (yes that’s a thing)! In the summer time, you can find me eating ice cream while enjoying a ride one of the many carousels in Binghamton. Wintertime means hot chocolate and hockey for me. If anyone is looking for an emergency goalie, I’m ready!

• What 3 items would you take to a desert island to help pass the time?

Rubix cube. Would I probably throw this in the ocean after a few days of not solving it? Most definitely, but it would serve as a good distraction for a few days at least.

Deck of cards. Solitaire is your friend when you’re stuck on an island all alone.

Ukulele. Are you even on an island if you’re not strumming this tropical mini guitar?

• If you weren’t a mascot for your school, what job would you have?

Musician: it’s no coincidence that Stinger rhymes with singer. Beyonce may be the Queen B, but this hornet knows how to get a crowd buzzin’.

• Tell us one secret people would be surprised to know about you.

I didn’t start life as an insect. I was … a cat. A Technicat, whatever that is. To be frank, I was lame and didn’t make any sense, and the students reinvented me way back in 1949. Do you ever see pictures from an old part of your life and you’re like, “No, that’s not me anymore” and then burn them? Yeah, it’s kind of like that, thinking back to the Technicat.