Every year, six seniors are chosen as Head Wackos, leaders of the Wakefield Wackos, to help raise school spirits and cheer on our sports teams. They attend events from football games to pep rallies with the goal of motivating Wakefield teams. These leaders work hard to support the school and encourage the student body to participate in activities.
One of the main responsibilities of a Head Wacko is to promote school spirit. At the beginning of the year, the Head Wackos get together and create a theme for each football game. Some of these themes include USA Out, Black Out and Maroon Out, and students are encouraged to dress up to match the theme while supporting their peers.
Sophia Motta is a senior and one of the Head Wackos. She regularly attends football games and, because of this, is able to interact with the students. Providing a theme for students to follow has increased game attendance, lifting school spirit and excitement throughout the crowd.
“We create themes for most of the sports games, our main ones are football and basketball,” Motta said. “But we are working on volleyball and we plan to do baseball, and even women’s lacrosse to increase participation at games.”
While exciting themes and fun memories come with being a Head Wacko, so does a large responsibility for organizing the student section. Senior and Head Wacko Ben Romano sees this challenge firsthand.
“When people don’t listen to the rules in the student section it falls on us to be responsible for that and talk with the admin to try to come up with a solution to fix those [issues],” Romano said.
In order to increase student turnout, the Wackos must communicate with students. One of the most effective ways to spread the word about game dates, themes or changes to the schedule is the utilization of social media. The Wackos run their own social media account that students can follow to get up-to-date information.
“We post a lot on the Instagram page and on the TikTok pages sometimes just to get people to see it and know that there are games,” Romano said.
Not only do the Wackos bring together the students in the student section, but they also bring together the athletes on the field. The Wackos are in charge of starting chants in the student section and getting the crowd on their feet for the athletes.
Senior Kayli Bartlett is another Head Wacko and recognizes that the student section plays a vital role in the performance of the team.
“The more people that show up, the [more] hype we are and the more the team feels the support from our students,” Bartlett said.
The Wacko’s efforts toward increased school turnout do not go unnoticed. Junior Ella Potter regularly attends the football games and observes the impact that these student leaders are making.
“I think that their motivation to bring more spirit and people to the games really helps encourage others to want to participate more and get more excited about coming [to the games],” Potter said.
