Build-A-Jag event draws hundreds to craft their own jaguar mascots
With every bit of stuffing, Mariana Quiralte’s jaX the Jaguar began to take shape.
Standing tall at nearly five inches, the diminutive plush is missing at least six feet from its real-life counterpart, who could be seen making his rounds visiting students table-to-table on Aug. 27 during the Build-A-Jax event at Texas A&M University-Victoria.
A biology major from Port Lavaca entering her sophomore year, Quiralte was one of the hundreds of students who filed into University Commons that afternoon for a chance to design and personalize their own stuffed jaX, A&M-Victoria’s beloved jaguar mascot.
What began as a campus-wide crafting activity quickly turned into a chance for her to showcase her personality and creativity, especially when she saw the scissors available.
At a table full of other students making their own special versions of jaX, she got to work first removing the sleeves on the miniature T-shirt, trimming the bottom into a fringe and angling the cuts to give it more movement and edge, she said. Also, she adjusted the stuffing level to make sure her jaX has a different silhouette than the others.
The result was what she described as a “punk jaguar,” complete with short sleeves, tasseled edges and a slightly fuller build.
“Coming into this, I thought I was going to make a cute little generic jaX, but I realized I wanted him to be punk,” she said. “He’s really cute; he’s like my son.”
Nearly 250 students shuffled into University Commons that day, filling the ground level of the building with a jubilant gathering of students, with some waiting in line and others in the Multi-Purpose Room personalizing their own jaX.
The number far exceeded the anticipated number of students and the 200 plush skins ordered for the event, said Freddie Cantu, A&M-Victoria director of Student Involvement.
Modeled after the popular Build-A-Bear Workshop concept, the event challenged students to assemble their own unique plush jaguar mascots.
To accommodate the high interest, the event created a waitlist for students who were unable to receive a jaguar during the event window, Cantu said. This marks the first time the university has ever hosted a Build-A-Jag event, and it was inspired from a student worker who had seen a similar event at another university, he said.
Beyond simply filling a plush toy, Build-A-Jag was designed to be a personal and reflective experience, Cantu said. Each student received an empty jaguar plush skin, a bag of stuffing to fill the push themselves, a personalizable felt heart, a university-branded T-shirt for their jaguar and a birth certificate to name their own jaguar.
“I hope the jaguar will serve as a keepsake for the students as they go off to create their own adventures and memories,” Cantu said. “And to be a reminder of all of those memories when they graduate one day from A&M-Victoria.”
To complete her jaguar, Quiralte gave her creation a simple and ironic name: Playdough, a nod to the familiar children’s toy and a deliberate contrast to the jaguar’s bold and punk appearance, she said.
Beyond the creative project, Quiralte is stepping into the new semester with a mix of excitement and determination. Now in her second year at A&M-Victoria, she is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that come with her coursework.
This term, she is focused on calculus in particular, a class she admits will be a bit of a challenge but is optimistic because of her professor’s support, she said. Looking ahead, her main goal this semester is not just to complete her courses, but to truly absorb and retain what she is learning so she can apply it to her career in the future, she said.
“I want to make sure that I’m actually learning my classes and not just finishing them, Quiralte said. “I’m really happy about the community; everybody has been great, and it’s easy to make friends with all of the events here.”
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.