Submitted by Andrew Lewis student Riley Evans

On any given Andrew Lewis Middle School basketball game day in Salem you will find a group of 20 plus students who bring the meaning of middle school spirit to a whole new level.

These 20 plus students make up a group called the Pep band.

Pep band is a student led club whose job is to bring an exciting, new twist to middle school basketball games. Started last year by the 8th grade Drum Majors, Caroline Fauber and Berkeley Wall, the pep band played the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of soccer games and basketball games.  During basketball games pep songs are played during quarter switches, timeouts and halftime.

Last year was the inaugural year of the band and it had only about a dozen students actually playing. This year, with Pep band becoming popular, the club has doubled in size. Students come to the band room after school on game days and practice until the game begins. Usually, the 8th graders will stay as late as 6:30 pm to play the entire game. All of this done on their own time. They play to bring fun and joy to the audience members, bring school spirit, and cheer on the school’s teams to go, fight, and win!

Pep-band is handed down each school year to the upcoming 8th grade Drum Majors. The 2016/2017 school year is being led by Riley Evans and Zoe Lampros. As the new Drum Majors for next school year are being trained by Riley and Zoe, it is predicted that Pep band will become much larger in the future.

With great support from Assistant Principal James Garst, this club will continue to unleash the Wolverine spirit.