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5 Ways Charlotte’s Flight Club Soars

January 31, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

CHARLOTTE – “One night to become State Champions.”

On social media and written at the bottom of its itinerary for the night, Charlotte’s Flight Club made perfectly clear what Saturday’s Battle of the Fans visit meant to a student section that while only a few years old has quickly become one of Michigan’s most accomplished – and is striving to become known as the state’s best. 

Students filled stands covering one end of the court at Charlotte’s “Dome” as we enjoyed the third of our five-visit tour on a night saluting local law enforcement.

The breakdown: In two years, Charlotte’s student section has come from nonexistent to become a two-time BOTF finalist. As we learned during our 2016 trip, it was hatched during a series of January 2015 snow days, when student leaders took advantage of the break by meeting and forming a Flight Club to give more support at first to the school’s basketball teams and then to all Orioles athletes. The section gained steam over the course of last school year and especially last winter during a strong start for the boys basketball team, and despite graduating nearly all of its leaders last spring returned in force this fall to become a regular part of student life at the school.

We visited for Saturday’s boys basketball game against DeWitt and met with seniors Jess Ramos, Grant Seavolt, Cassie Cotter, Connor Rosekrans and Ari Beutler.

See our video below, followed by five reasons the Flight Club continues to take off.

1. They have been building – literally.

The Flight Club claims to have more props than any student section in the state, and it’s a strong argument. They sadly waved goodbye to the S.S. Flightanic – a rolling boat they featured last season – after it ran aground in storage. But section leaders came back in August with their tools and paint cans ready. They built a giant “bird cage” out of PVC pipe to house Charlotte’s football teams at their field entrance before they busted out before games this fall. They created a second giant tifo (a.k.a. giant banner seen in photo below) that makes trips to most big games. And we enjoyed watching again as a member of the Club popped from the homemade oversized jack-in-the-box rolled out after the third quarter. A fan slip-n-slide set up for an early football game didn’t really take off, but most of the rest have been big winners – including the face-paint station in one corner of the gym where anyone can get made up to further show support.

2. They got organized.

As noted above, the Flight Club is barely two years old but quickly has grown into a force – and especially this school year as it’s become more organized. They received a new “nest” (our word, not theirs), a classroom where they store their many gizmos and gear and plan their work. White boards on one wall were loaded with lists and maps of the gym showing which sections of fans would sit where Saturday, while newspaper clips detailing their successes filled a bulletin board on another wall and a mural created by section co-creator and 2016 graduate Lindsey Carlson hung next to a letter sweater formerly worn by the dad of faculty section adviser Tyler Bartolacci, a 2007 grad. Section leaders now attend meetings every Monday and others as needs arise, created an itinerary for Saturday that was sent around on social media before the game, and members of the section proudly wore around their necks “boarding passes” – not that they needed identifying, but a neat show of solidarity nonetheless.

And leaders are still giving “Flight Club” lessons – videos over Twitter to show some of the cheers they’ll use at future events.

3. The pilots guide them home.

Last year, section leaders patrolled in front of the section – “flight attendants” showing the way. Taking the reins during games this year are “pilots,” one on each side of the baseline, standing on risers, megaphones in hand to provide the direction for all to hear and see. On Saturday, new leaders stepped up every quarter to guide the section and unify it for some awesome chants including a drum clap during the first half that will be a highlight of this year’s BOTF tour.

4. They’re making ‘highlights’ along the way.

Most schools with student sections can count on seeing them at football and basketball games. Starting in the fall, the Flight Club selected “highlight games” in every sport to also cheer – and not just for the more popular spectator sports like volleyball or soccer. The Club has cheered at girls and boys swimming & diving meets and at a hockey game this winter despite having only one Charlotte student on a co-op team with Lansing Catholic, Mason and Lansing Christian players. The first highlight game was a girls golf match during the fall, where 10 members of the Club cheered from the clubhouse as their classmates played the ninth fairway. And they packed local Char Lanes for a Neon Out and lots of “Strike, Strike, Strike” for a bowling match. “A lot of kids on the bowling team were really excited to see us there,” Rosekrans said. “They were talking about it the whole next week: ‘Thanks for coming. That was awesome.’”

5. They’ve got P.R.I.D.E.

Purpose. Respect. Integrity. Dedication. Excellence. PRIDE is a school motto, and a large board near the gym doors explains how students should be guided by those qualities in the classrooms and hallways. But Club members also have a lot of pride (the non-acronym meaning) in their school, and have risen as a giant in fan support at a time when Charlotte’s most recognizable sports teams aren’t having a ton of success. Driving their athletes to do their best only makes the Flight Club cheer louder. Students filled multiple spectator buses for football games, load the stands for basketball games, have worked closely with the middle school’s “Junior Flight Club” that also got organized this year, and had no doubts about making another run at Battle of the Fans after making an impressive debut but coming up short of the title in 2016. “Everyone has a ton of fun at the games,” Rosekrans said. “I think they naturally thought, let’s do it again next year.”

In their words

Setting themselves apart: “We kept seeing what we could do to make us champions,” Ramos said. “We wanted to know what would set us apart, and we spent a lot of time thinking about that and trying to see what we did last year compared to this year that we wanted to do differently.”

Memories made: “I made a lot of great memories just through the Flight Club, especially this year with football,” Seavolt said. “It’ been a lot to remember.”

Just say the word: “Get the community involved. People want to come to the games. They just don’t know about it all the time,” Rosekrans said. “Social media. Tell people. Literally, that’s all it is. The power of talking to someone is very underestimated.”

Next stop on BOTF: We'll visit Petoskey for Wednesday’s boys basketball game against Sault Ste. Marie and Frankenmuth for Friday’s boys basketball game against Millington. Click for coverage of our visits to Boyne City on Jan. 13 and Traverse City West on Jan. 20.

The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

PHOTOS: (Top) Charlotte's "Flight Club" chants during a drum clap Saturday. (Middle) Flight Club members hold up two giant tifos during the Battle of the Fans visit. (Photos by Teresa Johns.)

Have you Herd? Buchanan Parties On

February 18, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

BUCHANAN – Watch what’s become nearly a decade’s worth of Buchanan High School “Battle of the Fans” videos online. Check out the four MHSAA BOTF banners – including two for championships – hanging side by side on the far wall of the school’s gym.

It might appear that having an awesome student section at this southwestern border school is as easy as opening the doors for a new year every fall.

But maintaining what’s become Michigan’s benchmark for high school cheering sections can take just as much work as starting from scratch – especially when those new leaders every year face the expectations of continuing a tradition that’s included those two BOTF titles won in 2013 and then a year ago.

“I feel like when we won (last year), that day, we all looked around as a (then-junior) class and were like, ‘Whew, we’ve got some work to do,’” Buchanan senior Aria Nowlin recalled. “I feel like the day it was announced that we won, it almost kinda humbled us looking toward (this) year, because we were all proud of the accomplishments that we did do in 2018. But 2019 has been a year of growth and seeing what works change-wise.”

“The Herd” indeed has seen changes this school year, especially in leadership after waving good-bye to an impactful group of seniors last spring. But what remains the same is passed down from class to class and makes the section a model statewide – and provided many of the reasons for the MHSAA to make an unequaled fifth BOTF trip Friday for the Bucks’ boys basketball game against Niles Brandywine.

We finished our Battle of the Fans VIII finalists tour by meeting first with seniors Nowlin, Garret Lollar, Tali Suloff, Emily Riley and juniors Carter Aalfs and Jade Smith – and then postgame with senior Maya Schuhknecht (who missed the earlier meeting to help run the point for the girls basketball team).

As we did with our first two BOTF visits this month, we will report on Friday’s following the format of a typical game night. We begin with a few tips from The Herd on how to maintain a championship-caliber student section, followed by a quick dive into Buchanan’s “pregame prep” and then a review of what we saw to close out this year’s BOTF tour.

The Herd’s Gameplan

Take some of these tips from The Herd:

Value your values: They will guide your student section through growth and tough decisions. The Herd is rooted in being positive, supporting the school’s athletes and having fun. It sounds simple – but establishing similar guiding principles can be key.

Set the tone – everywhere: A positive student section emerges from a positive school environment – and then helps keep that environment harmonious. Spread the good vibes not just during games but in the hallways all day long.

Tap administration: With five visits over seven years, we’ve gotten to know Buchanan’s teacher “shepherds” as well, and they provide an incredible amount of support to the section, as have administrators past and present. The key is they empower student leaders to take action. Those student leaders thrive on that opportunity to be creative and in turn empower their classmates.

Embrace mass communication: The Herd’s message rings out on every social media channel, but leaders follow up that mass messaging with face-to-face encouragement in the halls.

Pregame Prep

The Herd’s current leaders were in middle school when the section got its start about six years ago. They would be excused for thinking this is how things have always been at Buchanan games.

The shepherds know better. They remember pre-Herd when games were sparsely attended and that spirit of togetherness didn’t exist.

A lot of work goes into keeping it going. Section leaders over the years have put a lot of time into visiting the elementary and middle school students and teaching them cheers. This year, Lollar noticed how the youngest kids showed tons of enthusiasm – but the middle schoolers didn’t really respond. Leaders face the same attitude with some underclassmen, needing to convince them that it’s fun to loosen up.

As noted above, The Herd also was challenged by a self-imposed obligation to improve on a banner year. Of course that’s tough to do. So Herd leaders dug into history – mixing some of the great cheers and chants from their past with new ideas this school year.

“I think it’s different, but different is good. Because if we’re not changing, we’re not growing,” Lollar said. “So I feel we do do the same things, but we slowly introduce new things and we slowly bring back old things, because if it works then why take it out?”

So first, what’s old? A lot of cheers and chants made popular in the section in past years including dances to Pitbull’s “Timber” and Sheppard’s “Geronimo.” Smith said because most of the high schoolers have taken part in the Herd since before they were teenagers, they’re able to remember the oldies-but-goodies and pick them back up quickly.

What’s new is an increased amount of participation from underclassmen who have brought a supply of new ideas. Nowlin remembers going to her first Herd meeting as an eighth grader and being the only member of her class in attendance. Now her sophomore sister and her sister’s friends are among those supplying input and planning for their turn to take the reins.

The Herd also has maintained its place as something of a civic group in the community, providing its enthusiasm to help Buchanan neighbors. Over the past year, the section has raised money to assist the family of a leader whose mom is fighting cancer, and also asked for donations for a recent graduate involved in a crash last summer. The Herd also will hold a co-fundraiser with students from Berrien Springs at an upcoming game.

“We do things to help the people that are in our community, because we are just that close-knit that we love everyone that goes through Buchanan,” Riley said. “So when they have a problem, we’re there to help them.”

Game Time

Riley recently was named winner of the Miss Buchanan pageant. When the five finalists were asked as part of the last round what event in the community captures what Buchanan is all about, four – including Riley – answered with something regarding a night with The Herd.

Here’s how she defines a Herd Night: “It’s hype, we’re together, we’re united. We’re seriously a group of people who love Buchanan and want to support everyone.”

Friday was surely one of those nights that will live in the memories of the 130 or so students who filled their usual corner of the home gym.

The weather has played some havoc with the basketball teams’ home schedules, among other school events. So Friday’s game doubled as Winterfest, with royalty crowned between the girls and boys varsity games.

Then began what felt like a throwback to Herd Nights of years past.

First the lights went out. When it was time for the home team to be introduced, a spotlight and plenty of phone flashes came on, creating an environment sure to get any team revved up.

The boys basketball team proceeded to give opponent Niles Brandywine a somewhat unexpected challenge for the first three quarters (Brandywine is 16-1 and Buchanan 6-9), and the student section cheered the team on with chants we’ve heard for years plus a medley of songs and dances that seemed like a Herd greatest hits collection.

There was some new too. During the first half, the section split in half for a “Party” chant we hadn’t heard before and that’s become a Herd favorite, and at halftime a group of senior dancers performed their recent school championship routine. As the second half wore on, the section kept things mostly rowdy despite the game slipping away.


Postgame analysis

You don’t need an invite: “I’ve had people text me: ‘How do I get into The Herd? How do I get the text messages?’” Riley said. “And I’m like, 'You’re a part of The Herd – everyone’s a part of The Herd.' When we go and see little kids, we’re like, 'Raise your hand if you’re part of The Herd.' And then we’re like, ‘You all should be raising your hand, because you’re all part of The Herd.’”

We do this together: “Having everything look good together and having everyone participate is something really awesome that not many people ever can do,” Lollar said.

It’s no secret: “Not only (do we) live it, but our athletes that we support love it,” Riley said. “They look forward to it. It’s not just for us. It’s for the athletes because it supports them and it helps them. And the parents, they go crazy. All of Buchanan knows The Herd is where it’s at.”

Next for BOTF: Public voting for Battle of the Fans begins Tuesday on the MHSAA’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites – come back to Second Half on Tuesday for instructions on how to support your favorite section.

The Battle of the Fans is sponsored in part by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

PHOTOS: (Top) Buchanan’s ‘Herd’ enjoys a quick dance party during a break in Friday’s boys basketball game against Niles Brandywine. (Middle) Bucks students fill their section of the bleachers and feed the atmosphere with songs, chants and cheers from opening tip through the final buzzer.