Every home game at Grisham Stadium is always full of cheering, touchdowns, music, and loads of entertainment. This doesn’t just happen with the football game on its own. While yes, that’s the main reason why we are all there. To celebrate the Trojans as they score a big win. But to tie the knot on the bow, it all comes down to the liveliness of the game, which all happens in two tiny sections: the film room in the press box and the student section. Both are crucial elements of the game, just in different ways.

While both the press box and the student section exist to provide entertainment for football games, the press box relies on the students working the jumbotron to encourage engaged entertainment of the game, whereas the student section uses the game, friends, and the jumbotron to enforce hyped behavior—ultimately revealing that both use entertainment in different ways yet they use each other to create the hyped atmosphere of the game.

The press box can get quite chaotic, with all of us running around to do our different jobs, from the cameraman setting up the cameras on the roof to the technical director switching between the camera angles to the director calling “ Ready camera 2, Go 2!” into the headset, and everything else in between. Everyone plays a special role in creating the entertainment. We have two cameras on the roof recording the game and two cameras on the field recording fan engagement, along with all the different graphics going onto the jumbotron. Separate from the jumbotron, we have music for people to dance to during any break we can get. The whole goal of everything we do up there is to make sure the student section and fans have a fun time during the game while also highlighting the game itself.

The student section, on the other hand, is chaotic for a whole different reason: a bunch of super hyped, dressed-up high school students ready to have a good time. With every game, there is a different theme, from gold out to homecoming to Halloween costumes. Every time, the student section goes all out. From painting bodies gold to showing up in prom dresses, you can always count on the student section to be dressed up. Any time the camera is on them and they see themselves on the big screen, they are waving, cheering, and shouting like their life depends on it. That’s how we go hand in hand. Without each other, the game would be much more boring. While different, we rely on each other. The cameras pointed at the students give us fun stuff to show. And the cameras give them a reason to show all out for the game.

Overall, while different in that the press box is more of a job of technology and the student section is a bunch of students watching the game to have fun, both share the common goal of having a great time at a Friday night high school football game. Equally important, they both help create the fun atmosphere of what we call home of Grisham Stadium.