Stroll down the HSMSE hallways and you might encounter something that looks like a flying lizard. That’s HSMSE’s mascot: a dragon. The main aspect of this dragon that makes it funny is how people don’t have a concise idea of what a dragon is. At HSMSE, there are many, many variations of what is supposed to be the same purple dragon. The Track/Cross Country Team’s take on the mascot is a purple silhouette of a dragon, with its wings taking up the majority of its surface area. On the other hand, more fan-based depictions of dragons depict them as fat and oversized. To truly determine what a dragon is, we asked some individuals about what they first think a dragon is, and what they think of our mascot.

Tenzin Dhoundup (’28) thinks of dragons as large, ferocious animals with oversized wings and “awesomeness.” He believes our current mascot needs “more ferociousness.”

Daniel Fox (’26) associates dragons with Game of Thrones and fantasy books. He thinks that our current mascot should include colors other than purple.

Matthew Lau (’28) believes that dragons have wings and breathe fire, and that our mascot needs more detail.

Anderson Chen (’28) thinks of medieval knights. He says that our Mascot is too basic.

Dashiell Finer-Regn (’27) thinks about Dungeons and Dragons when asked about dragons, and says that the idea of a dragon mascot is anathema to a school whose namesake is “Math, Science, and Engineering.”

Based on this, the average student’s image of dragons in HSMSE is roughly based on the idea of large, ferocious animals with wings that are found in fantasy games and books. But why do we think of dragons the way that we do? And where can you see that in HSMSE?

Dragons were originally invented as a concept to explain prehistoric fossils and scary mysterious creatures. Since fact-based sciences and the internet were not available back then, stories of these mythical creatures were used in place of actual knowledge. In Europe, the ideas of “dragons” were as inconsistent as representations of our mascot: People had vastly different ideas about what makes a dragon. Most thought of a dragon as a scary and powerful equivalent of Satan. In most European myths, the dragon was just an obscure beast that was usually slaughtered by a “hero.”

But in the 20th Century, J.R.R. Tolkien, famous for writing Lord of the Rings, revived these myths by adding life and thought to characters in his book, including dragons. He emphasized their formidable nature and imagined them in a way similar to how we do today, as large lizards with wings. Through this new take on old European myths, he made a new genre: fantasy.

Fast forward to the 1960s, when two authors—Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. Le Guin—develop dragons into something beyond being a cheesy cast villain. McCaffrey’s book, Perm, paints dragons as loyal companions rather than opponents. Ursula’s book, A Wizard of Earthsea, depicts dragons as beautiful, wise, and caring, yet wrathful all at once. These two authors helped develop the dragon’s image as something that could represent a lot at once. Today, society treats dragons as either companions or anti-heroes. They can be either loved or hated in fiction. However, at the end of the day, they’re an integral part of pop culture, both at HSMSE and beyond.

You can see this in Baskerville, where there are 12 different variations of dragons, either in the form of stickers, posters, or an interesting work of art on the ceiling of the B-level. The most prominent—and funny—example is the paper-mache dragon.

Now, what is so special about this paper-mache dragon? It’s a full scale “model” of our mascot, using the ventilation tube hung on the B-level’s ceiling as a substitute for its torso. Its head and tail are the only parts of this oddity that are actually made out of paper-mache, which are painted over with a random mixture of green and purple. Similarly, Baskerville has grotesques, which are essentially unique statues of goblin-dragon hybrids. These act as a funny homage to the history of dragons and similar beasts.

HSMSE isn’t just about Math, Science, and Engineering—contrary to what Dashiell believes. It’s a hotbed for art, creativity, imagination. HSMSE represents not just dragons, but rather the ability to represent so much with a singular fantasy animal, such as a dragon. The fact that dragons look different throughout HSMSE’s halls, our minds, and our books is the same reason why we are such a diverse, and joyful community.