The Panther Pack Pep Club formed in October aiming “to promote school spirit in both the school and community.”

The 11 middle school students since have designed signs and posters highlighting winter sports teams, decorated lockers and have plans for pep rallies and themes for some games, such as “glow night.”

And they’re now appearing at all home sporting events, leading the crowds in cheers, said Erin Martin, a special education-reading interventionist at Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine who organized the club.

A 2003 graduate of Iron Mountain High School, Martin said she took part in anything related to school spirit, from sideline and competitive cheer to band and flags. That continued while at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

ERIN MARTIN

“These are the memories that kids make, being involved in your school,” Martin said.

But Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine, where she’s taught for about a decade, hasn’t had cheerleaders in roughly 20 years, she said. So she set out to change that.

Martin first tried to start a pep club in 2020 only to have it sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then enrollment dipped in the small district, leaving few students available to participate, she said.

But middle school numbers are up this year, allowing the club to get established. They first met in October and cheered at their first game Nov. 6.

Though open to grades eight through 12, the initial group is all middle school and all female. High school didn’t have enough students — BDP for 2023-24 has a total enrollment of about 250, including 4-year-old kindergarten — to be in cheer and still fill out sports teams, she explained. She has seen some interest among boys since the Pep Club formed, so it could expand in the future to include them, she said.

They initially planned to wear solid T-shirts and leggings when cheering. But donors stepped up, with parents buying T-shirts that a district day care worker got screened with a cheer logo. The booster club and Diane’s Pop-A-Top in Pembine provided funds for pom-poms. The Diva Den in neighboring Niagara, Wis., also donated money that will go toward purchasing a Bluetooth speaker and flags for the group.

While crowds at their first couple games seemed a little reluctant to participate, they now readily join the pep club in group cheers, Martin said, adding, “it was really cool to see.”

The players seem to appreciate their efforts as well. “The peer support is the biggest thing,” she said.

The group meets an average of four times a week, including attending sports events. They’re also traveling to Goodman-Armstrong Creek, as BDP has a sharing arrangement with G-AC to compete under the Goodman-Pembine Patriots name, Martin said. Eventually, the pep club might add Goodman-Armstrong Creek students.

“We have wanted to be cheerleaders for awhile, but we never had it,” said 11-year-old Alise Blosser of Dunbar, who was with fellow pep club member Addison Fletcher, 12. Both are in the same BDP sixth-grade class. “It’s fun and we get to go to games,” she said, adding she likes “doing the high kicks.”

Said Fletcher, “I get to see my friends more after school.” Both plan to continue with the club beyond this school year.

Annah Wolford, 11, also a sixth-grader from Dunbar, said she thought the pep club was “a really good idea to just pump up the school.”

She said of sideline cheering, “I get to do it with all my friends and then I see people in the crowd doing it, too, and that makes me really happy, that people have that spirit.” Their cheers also might “help them be more happy, even if we lose,” she said.

When the eighth-graders move on to high school, Martin anticipates the pep club will be able to include high school students.

For now, they’re looking at ways to further promote school spirit. They may add color guard routines, dance and glow shows, along with halftime shows.

They’ve already learned 30 cheers, Martin said, and are working on the school song, which is based on the famous University of Notre Dame “victory march.” And, as mentioned, they’ve covered the school with basketball posters and other decorations.

“The girls have been working super-hard,” Martin said. “They’ve come a long way in very little time … I’m just really proud of them.”