In a crowd of people, it can be a challenge most days to find senior Wyatt Brinovec. But some days, Wyatt stands out from a crowd in a red and gray striped shirt, white and red hat and thick black glasses. Some days, Wyatt chooses to take on a new persona. Some days, Wyatt becomes Waldo.

Wyatt started dressing up as Waldo, from the Where’s Waldo? books, during his junior year. He was originally inspired by a picture of Waldo he saw in his German class. Since that first fateful day in his Waldo costume, Wyatt has continued to dress as Waldo for hat days and multiple spirit weeks.

“I think it’s a good idea,” friend Ashleigh Ellis said. “It brings people’s spirits up during spirit week.”

In addition to raising other’s spirits, Wyatt’s Waldo persona has made his life more interesting. When he dresses as Waldo, students often come up to him and comment on how they found Waldo. Dressing as Waldo has made Wyatt’s high school experience more memorable.

“Everyone has a high school moment,” Wyatt said. “This kind of felt like mine.”

One reason Wyatt considers Waldo to be one of his best high school memories is because of the many experiences he has had in the costume.

“The principal tried to get him in trouble for wearing his hat,” friend Aimee Gardner said.

“Then the principal was like, ‘Wait, you’re Waldo, never mind.’”

Of course, Waldo has not only improved Wyatt’s time in high school- he has also inspired the students of North and started a Waldo trend here. This became evident when Stuco held a

“Where’s Waldo?” day as a part of the 2010 homecoming spirit week.

“I did like the idea, but I kind of wished they had asked me to be a part of it,” Wyatt said. “I came up with the idea first; they kind of got the idea from me.”

Even though Wyatt was not asked to be the “real” Waldo on this day and hand out raffle

tickets, he still wore his costume, for once blending in as Waldo instead of standing out. While Wyatt may not often encounter other Waldos, he has worn the costume before in other environments where dressing as a cartoon character is not unusual.

Wyatt goes to anime conventions dressed as Waldo. He also dresses as Waldo on Halloween, and he has even more plans for his Waldo costume as his time to wear the costume in high school comes to an end.

“I thought about walking up to the grocery store like that,” Wyatt said. “I’ll probably do that eventually. I did [dress as Waldo] for Halloween at work, St. Charles 18 Cinema.”

Another opportunity for Wyatt to dress as Waldo at the movie theater is in 2013, when a Where’s Waldo? movie is set to be released.

“I think it’s bad that the industry’s resorting to that,” Wyatt said. “It’s like pay $15, ‘Hey, I found Waldo. Is the movie over yet?’ But I think it’s a good idea. Most kids don’t know who Waldo is.”

Aside from this prospective movie, the character of Waldo has also been portrayed in a short lived T.V. show, comic strip, several video games, a Where’s Waldo? magazine and, of course, the original Where’s Waldo? books series.

“I could never find [the books as a kid],” Wyatt said. “I remember reading some of them.”

Even though Wyatt was not an avid Waldo fan growing up, he has certainly managed to find Waldo as a teenager. Nowadays, to many FHN students, Wyatt is Waldo.

“People say I look a lot like him when I put on the costume,” Wyatt said.

“People can’t find me half the time when I’m not dressed up like him, but they always find me when I’m dressed up like Waldo.”

By Paige Yungermann