{"667226":{"#nid":"667226","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Buzz Takes First Place at 2023 NCA Collegiate National Championship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECompeting in the 2023 NCA and NDA Collegiate National Cheer and Dance Championship, the famous yellow jacket was awarded first place in the mascot category, edging out Texas Tech\u2019s Raider Red and Missouri\u2019s Truman the Tiger.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPerhaps inspired by the weekend release of \u003Cem\u003EThe Super Mario Bros. Movie\u003C\/em\u003E, Buzz worked the crowd into a frenzy, dancing his way through a level of the classic video game and earning an overall score of 53.7 out of 60.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI didn\u2019t come this far just to come this far,\u201d \u003Cspan\u003Ethe notoriously energetic mascot tweeted following the victory. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBuzz soaked in the moment after winning the title by grabbing the trophy and running straight into the Atlantic Ocean.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor Buzz, the hard work doesn\u2019t start on stage. As head cheerleading coach Shana Spann points out, the work that goes on behind the scenes made this championship possible, including raising money to travel to the NCAs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBuzz is the 2023 NCA College Mascot National Champion, and we could not be prouder! The Buzz team is comprised of a select group of student-athletes who work tirelessly building all of their props by hand, creating their own skits, and doing countless appearances on and off campus each week. They are truly a team and work together on every aspect of Buzz, from character development to prop building in Freshman Gym,\u201d Spann said. \u201cThey are truly the hardest working group of kids on campus, and it was a joy to coach them this year and take them to the championship.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENext time you see Buzz on campus, make sure to congratulate the national champion.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETech\u2019s White squad competed at the NCAs as well in the large coed D1A intermediate division, finishing 8th in the country, while the Gold squad competed at the UCA College Nationals in January.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAt the 2023 NCA and NDA Collegiate National Cheer and Dance Championship in Daytona Beach, the judges confirmed what the Georgia Tech community already knew. Buzz is the top mascot in the country.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"At the 2023 NCA and NDA Collegiate National Cheer and Dance Championship in Daytona Beach, the judges confirmed what the Georgia Tech community already knew. Buzz is the top mascot in the country."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2023-04-11 14:35:59","changed_gmt":"2023-04-11 15:06:09","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-04-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-04-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670499":{"id":"670499","type":"image","title":"Buzz on the beach at NCA Championship","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBuzz\u0026nbsp;on the beach after taking first place at the 2023 NCA Championship.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1681224064","gmt_created":"2023-04-11 14:41:04","changed":"1681224110","gmt_changed":"2023-04-11 14:41:50","alt":"Buzz on the beach at NCA Championship","file":{"fid":"253365","name":"IMG_2245.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/04\/11\/IMG_2245.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/04\/11\/IMG_2245.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":123997,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/04\/11\/IMG_2245.jpg?itok=zwNbw1yG"}}},"media_ids":["670499"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:steven.gagliano@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Gagliano\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}