Out almost every afternoon when the weather permits, Elliot Pearsall stands in front of the buses juggling his bowling pins for all to see. The swift movements catch the attention of the surrounding students. Some students stand by to watch while others whisper excitedly to friends nearby. Every year, words spread when freshmen gaze upon him for the first time. Regardless of how many times he has been spotted throughout some students’ high school years, eyes still always follow Elliot the Entertainer.

“I’m a bus driver, so I have a lot of time to myself when I’m waiting for the buses to get loaded, so why not do something I enjoy while I wait?” Pearsall said.

Pearsall has been juggling for over five years now after suddenly deciding to try it out. He has always been in the entertainment business, but he decided he wanted to learn something different. From that point, he taught himself the art of juggling, impressing students while doing it.

“I had him as my bus driver, and I think he’s really cool,” junior Erin Stock said. “At first, I didn’t know why [he juggled], but then I realized that he was an entertainer. He’s a super nice guy and always says nice things. If you meet him, he’s the type of person you’d think would be a magician. He’s just super nice and happy all the time. Juggling is such a unique thing that only certain people like to do, and he’s good at it.”

As well as being a bus driver, Pearsall works for Circus Kaput, an entertainment agency in the St. Louis area. Alongside his usual juggling act, he works with stilts and balloon animals, and he firedances, an act where the entertainer juggles objects on fire, like torches. With hours and hours of practice and dedication on his side, he does it without injury.

“If he’s spending his spare time practicing, then it’s definitely important to him,” Media Specialist Tara Willen said. “It’s really easy to tell that he likes doing it just by seeing him outside almost every day.”

Being in the entertainment business can be somewhat exhausting according to Pearsall. This past year alone he worked 108 different performances at private parties, corporate events and other occasions like Festival of the Little Hills on Main Street. Despite doing that and working as a bus driver, he finds the time to devote himself to doing what he enjoys.

“I was actually reading an article a while ago,” Elliot said. “The author was talking about magic, which I do as well and thoroughly enjoy. He had said something that really resonated with me that I could relate to. He said ‘I don’t consider myself a magician as much as I consider myself an artist, and magic is simply one of my mediums.’ So I definitely have to agree with that in this reference translated from magic to juggling. Juggling is my art.”