A New Sound

The crowd roars with excitement as the players run on the field. Feet stomp, fans cheer, all with celebratory music. This is a new experience for Jefferson Academy as we welcome the addition of the JA Pep Band.

Jefferson Academy’s pep band has been hard at work preparing for their first performance at the varsity basketball games. 

“We come every Tuesday, and we rehearse the songs the entire time, just working on a specific part of it,” mentioned junior Lily Nuanas.

The basketball games are a new experience for the students in the pep band; before this, they were only playing at concerts.

“I hope that playing at the basketball games will draw more people to our games,” stated junior Holly Hartmann, “I also like that it will give more of a purpose to the pep band.”

Since this is a new edition for JA, people wonder if students and fans will enjoy having a pep band.

“If we play well at the upcoming game, then we can grow our reputation as a band, and I think that this will expose the school of our program, which will allow for more people to appreciate the band,” expressed Nuanas. 

With this new opportunity for the pep band, it leads to other opportunities for the band program in general.

“I think that playing will make us more visible ‘cause even though we’ve been playing at concerts, [pep band] is still more of an afterschool activity,” commented Hartmann, “so hopefully we can start playing at some volleyball games or more events like that.”  

The Pep Band is a more classic thing at other schools so there is more excitement that we have one now.

Sophomore Chloe Mooney mentioned, “Going to other schools when we play at away games, we notice the Pep Band and the crowd is usually more energetic, so it's nice to have one now.” 

Overall, Pep Bands' first performance was a success, with many people giving out compliments. 

Mooney expressed, “I thought that even though it was their first game, I think that they did really well. I think that the Pep Band will add a good environment to our school.”