As many of you know, I am a junior at Warren Area High School.

Warren Area High School has this amazing thing linked to it – the Flannel Panel, our student cheering section.

The Flannel Panel can be seen at a football game, sometimes basketball games and volleyball games. Since I was a freshman in high school, I have participated in the Flannel Panel during football season and occasionally during basketball season.

A reason why I love the Flannel Panel is because we dress up in the craziest clothes and are very loud. Each game has a different theme. Themes include: America, Whiteout, Wildcard, Flannel, Camouflage, Frat Night, Beach Night, Blackout, and Pink Out for Breast Cancer Awareness.

There is certain seating when it comes to sitting in the student section during football season. The order is supposed to be seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. Some of the underclassmen forget that they need to sit back farther in the section. The upperclassmen get pretty annoyed when the underclassmen think they can sit with us.

The Flannel Panel has awarded me with some pretty great friends. It also gives the freshmen an ice breaker, being new to high school and all. Everyone should be involved in the student section at least once in their high school career.

The Flannel Panel brings such a great atmosphere and school spirit to the games they attend, that it makes me sometimes wonder why the Flannel Panel only participates in certain sport seasons. All the teams could benefit from the cheers from the Flannel Panel. One student who plays soccer and was on the boys’ soccer team when the Flannel Panel attended their playoff game in Harborcreek against South Fayette still remembers how awesome it was that the Panel cheered for them the entire game. The Panel makes a huge impact on the morale of the players.

What makes football, basketball, and volleyball so much more special? I know that some coaches try to challenge the Flannel Panel to show up to games or matches. The Flannel Panel has never showed up to tennis, soccer, swimming, baseball, or softball. Golf, I know, can be difficult to attend because they are rarely near home for matches. There have been rare occasions when they show up to wrestling, but they would only show up when it comes to the rivalry match – Eisenhower versus Warren.

When we go to school, there are cliques. You get a mix of the popular, middle class, low class, jocks, gamers, etc. Going into the Flannel Panel, that all goes away. We become one. We unite to cheer on the Dragons. But we do not exactly support all the Dragons.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Flannel Panel, but why can they not share their love for sports with all sports? I get they have certain cheers, but there are plenty of chants for other sports. I am just saying, if the cheerleaders can figure out cheers for these sports, I believe the Flannel Panel can find some.

And make something great even more great.

Madison Streich is a junior at Warren Area High School and an aspiring journalist.