AWESOME !

By Jordana Gilden

When you walk the halls of Pegasus and see a striking young second grader sporting a bow tie and dressed for success, you are very possibly looking at our own Sirius Black. Sirius is a fun, sharp student in Ms. Grimes’s class who loves dressing up (think top hats and capes), science, and Disneyland. And if you are thinking to yourself that his name sounds vaguely familiar, that is because Sirius is named after a clever wizard who is the godfather of a familiar literary character by the name of Harry Potter.

Sirius’s parents are big fans of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series, which chronicles the lives of a young wizard and his friends who struggle to take down a dark wizard. When it came time to pick a name for their son, it seemed fitting to take the father’s surname of Black and combine it with this strong, protagonist character

The Pegasus adventures for Sirius began last year when he was in Mrs. Klopstock’s class. Klopstock recalls that on the first day of first grade they had read the story “Chrysanthemum” and discussed what made each of their names special. Sirius said, “My name is special because it starts with an S!” He never mentioned his namesake, Klopstock recalls with warm

While the name is recognizable to most Harry Potter fans, our Sirius is much more dimensional than his literary associate. He plays the piano, loves Marvel, collects Funko Pops, and has an affinity for Elvis. Sirius also loves to dress up. When asked how many costumes he has, he answered, “590!” According to his mother, this estimate is a bit exaggerated, but he certainly has many. He attended Comicon in San Diego in July 2022 and costume-changed four times, rotating between Loki, Dr. Strange, Shang-Chi, and Moon Knight/Dr. Knight.

Sirius, himself, is a bit of a celebrity. His image and videos of him from Comicon were published in various recognizable reports. His photo was included as one of “the best cosplayers at 2022 Comic-Con” by Entertainment Weekly. And he was also part of a Yahoo! Variety video on the famous comic convention.

This curious and creative friend is also innovative. If he does not have a costume in his catalog that fits his needs, he makes it. For instance, he recently wanted to take on Black Widow but didn’t own that costume. So he took bits and pieces from other costumes and put them together, then drew and taped the symbol for the character onto his jacket. Sirius excitedly shared that he looks forward to dressing up as Elvis soon because he wants to be Viva Las Vegas Elvis. When asked if he has an Elvis costume, he shook his head “no” and then quickly added, “I can make one!”

This comic-loving kid shares the love of the fantastical with his parents. He has been to many theme parks and says Legoland and Disney World in Orlando are his favorite, even over Tokyo Disneyland. He has been to the Disney convention called D23 and the entire family scored tickets to Comic-Con 2023 for all five days

When Sirius is not dressing in costume, he is dressing in fine threads; it is not unusual to see him at school in a bow tie. On a recent trip to Las Vegas, he channeled his inner P.T. Barnum from The Greatest Showman and cruised the town in top hat and blazer.

Sirius is loving his time at Pegasus, and his teachers have great things to say about him. “Sirius is so friendly to everyone!” “On Spirit Days, he always comes dressed up in the best outfits and rocks them!” “He is thoughtful, helps when needed, and I can always count on him to be a friend to everyone! I love having him in my room.”

Sirius especially likes all the fun Pegasus projects. He loved the Iditarod project in first grade, had fun showing off his costume for Ellis Island day in second grade, and spoke with excitement about future traditions he will get to participate in like Celebre-tea in fifth grade. (He is secretly hoping he will get to be Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson or John Cena.)

Sirius’s favorite subjects are art and science. He looks forward to “crushing rocks” in Mrs. Bogue’s science class when they start the geology unit. Bogue says, “Sirius is always respectful, polite, engaged, and hard working. He has a serious-about-science attitude!”

This fun-loving kid is part of what makes the Pegasus family so special. The Pegasus community is made up of unique personalities, with unique interests and passions. While his famous name does not define him, it is a great introduction to his and his family’s love of fantasy and imagination. If you run into this clever student on campus, be sure to wave hello; if you’re lucky, he may tip his top hat back your way. wuw