The Scottish Theme:

Towards the middle of Shorecrest's first school-year in 1961, Shorecrest had already taken big steps towards a Scottish theme, and much was being done to progress this.

The next step was finding a suitable mascot. Many ideas were thrown out and debated on, but many did not appeal to the students. Then the idea of "Big Otis" came up. At the time there was an advertisement on television for a brand of cereal, which featured a large Scotsman named "Big Otis." This idea finally appealed to most students and so, "Big Otis" became the school's official mascot.

The school colors had already been decided on, and to follow the Scottish theme they were to be displayed in a plaid. The only problem was finding a Scottish plaid which matched the colors forest green, old gold, and navy blue. After looking through a book of Scottish plaids and Tartans, one was found that matched. It was the Gordon Clan tartan. Soon after, Shorecrest recieved permission from the clan to use their tartan.

It wasn't long into the school year when band director James Sjolund began asking what the school had in mind for a marching band and band uniforms. There was a great deal of talk about this and there was fear about whether boys would be willing to wear kilts. Also brought up was the idea of having the addition of bagpipes and special drummers to the band.

During Shorecrest's second school year, arrangements were being made on how the school would purchase band uniforms. There was much frustration, as no Seattle company would take up the daunting task of creating over 110 uniforms. Finally, a company located in Vancouver, B.C. was found that could do the job. The uniforms were to be imported from Canada, while the kilts were being imported straight from Edinburgh, Scottland. By fall of 1963, Shorecrest fielded a fully-kilted marching band.

Pipers