Kellogg High School resurrecting old tradition
Courtesy photo Students from Kellogg High School in the early 1980s sing the Alma Mater with their fingers high. KHS alumni are trying to bring the tradition back to the school after it vanished during the 1990s.
KELLOGG — A group of Kellogg High School alumni is looking to bring back a Wildcat tradition and they’re taking advantage of the perfect opportunity to do it.
For decades, following any Kellogg High School sporting event, the KHS Pep Band would cue up “Alma Mater,” a slower version of their usual “Hail to the Wildcats,” then the student body, the team, and any alumni in the stands would hold up one finger and sing:
Hail Alma Mater, hats off to you Ever you’ll find us loyal and true. Firm and undaunted, always we’ll be Hail to the school we love… Here’s a toast to thee.
Simon Miller, Kellogg School District’s technology director and a KHS alumni himself, can remember playing “Alma Mater” through his senior year in 1990.
Following a recent Kellogg basketball game, he heard band director Shad Frazier talking to his pep band students, telling them how the team and crowd appreciates what they do for the Wildcats every game that they play and it brought him back to playing “Alma Mater.”
He began to seek out other fellow KHS alumni to see if they would be interested in bringing back the tradition of singing the “Alma Mater.”
One fellow Wildcat, and current KHS cheerleading coach Lori Sawyer took the initiative, and between her efforts, along with those of her cheerleaders, the pep band, as well as those of Miller, they are planning on bringing the “Alma Mater” back to KHS.
“You know, I'm just so proud to be a Kellogg Wildcat. I always will no matter what and I have always loved my school,” Sawyer said. “It’s pretty exciting to bring back traditions that have been in that school for years. I am hoping by reintroducing the ‘Alma Mater’ that these kids will learn to love their community, which right now is Kellogg High School for them. If they love their community they’re in now, I’m hoping that that will spill over into their adult lives. I’m not sure when it stopped because when I coached before we still did it. I am just hoping that we can get Kellogg alumni there at the game who will stand with us after the game is over and give a toast to our school.”
The Kellogg boys basketball team has given them an optimal opportunity to bring the “Alma Mater” back.
After their road win over Priest River earlier this week, the Wildcats clinched the Intermountain League and earned the right to host the district tournament.
Kellogg will open that tournament up on Monday, Feb. 24, at 5:30 p.m., once again taking on Priest River’s Spartans.
Following that game Miller, Sawyer and company will be relaunching the tradition of the “Alma Mater” and hope that as many Kellogg High School alumni as possible come out and be a part of getting the dormant tradition back on its feet.