Fueled by the excitement of returning to a normal school year, PHS students are roaring with school spirit. With the start of the fall sport season and the recent “pack the cage” mentality that many have adopted, sporting events have offered students an opportunity to show support for their peers and display school pride. Of course, these events would not be complete without the captivating musical acts that entertain the crowd, so there is no shortage of work for PHS musicians to do in preparation. 
This September, two major school spirit events took place, both of which occurred on Friday, September 23: the annual Pep Rally and the Homecoming game. 
The Pep Rally occurs every year in September and gives the student body a chance to recognize and uplift our sports teams. Each team is individually called out, after which they are met with a round of applause from their peers. This event is purposefully held before  Homecoming  to  amp  up  school  spirit  before  the  big  game,  and  the  inclusion  of musical entertainment is integral to  keeping the crowd engaged and excited. This year, the Pep Rally took place after school on the turf, where two of PHS’s a cappella groups—The Cat’s Meow and Around 8—performed. As school has just started, there was little time to prepare for the gig, but the young musicians were confident that they would pull through with a good performance despite the time crunch.
 “The easiest part of practice is that we have so many great singers, that learning music has become a piece of cake. We can put together a new song every rehearsal,” said Matty Baglio ’23, the music director for Around 8. 
Around 8 performed the national anthem for the Pep Rally, while The Cat’s Meow performed the PHS alma mater.  
“We’re excited to be performing the alma mater this year. It’s nice to be part of such a fun tradition that’s so important to PHS culture,” said Rowan Gilmore ’23, a singer in The Cat’s Meow. 
The highly anticipated PHS annual Homecoming game took place later that day at 7:00 pm. Every year, students excitedly show up to the first home football game of the year to show off school spirit, enjoy a night of fun, and support our student athletes. Just as exciting is the halftime performance, which starred the PHS Studio Band. For the few weeks leading up to the performance,  Studio Band musicians worked hard to make this year’s performance even more sensational than last year’s. 
Since the Homecoming game wasmoved up a month this year, Studio Band members were also under a time crunch to rehearse. 
“We [were] just starting to prepare so the difference this year is that we have less time.  We [had] like two and a half weeks to pull this together. I would say it’s more frantic this year,” said Band Director Joseph Bongiovi. 
Despite the ticking clock, younger students were looking forward to performing in the classic halftime show. 
“I [was] most excited to be playing in front of my classmates and other friends because I  love  to  play  in  front  of  people  I  know...  I  know  [people]  will  listen  to  what  we  are  playing and really enjoy it,” said drummer Owen Barry ’25. 
After only a few weeks of practice, Studio Band was already beginning to collaborate and merge their sounds—the rhythm section in particular meshed very quickly.   
“I  mean  the  rhythm  section  sounds  great—it’s  our  piano,  bass,  drums—and  the  trumpets sound good this year too,” Bongiovi said.  
Past  performances  have  included  hits  like  “Treasure”  by  Bruno  Mars  and  Stevie  Wonder’s “Sir Duke.” Before their performance, Studio Band’s production was under wraps, so the set list was kept secret between its members. 
As it turned out, the setlist for the concert was particularly engaging for the audience. Studio Band ended up dazzling the crowed with their renditions of “September” by Earth Wind and Fire, “Runaway Baby” by Bruno Mars, “Lose Yourself ” by Eminem (rapped flawlessly by Koen Moulton ’23), “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, and “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was particularly well recieved by the audience after a surprise solo by PHS Principal Frank Chmiel.
Overall, though there was limited time to rehearse, PHS musicians pulled through with a well-done performance. Despite the football team’s loss, the engaging musical performances  and    sense  of    community  instilled  the  sense  of  school  spirit  that  Homecoming is all about


PHS musicians amplify sense of community at spirit events  

    The AP tests are over and school is coming to a close, and though  most  of  us  had  our  own  exam  grindset  playlists,  the next big problem we’ll be having is this: What are we going to listen to over the summer? If you’ve been stressed, overworked,  and  tired,  look  no  further  —  we  are  here  to  save the day with some information on new artist releases, offer  an  opinion  about  musical  trends,  and  suggest  some  recommendations to get you in the mood for the coming break!   
 In order to predict and recommend summer hits of our own,  we  must  first  ask  ourselves  two  questions:  What  makes  a  song  a  hit,  and  what  makes  a  song  perfect  for  the summer? We released an online survey for some PHS students to fill out for their feedback. Most songs that have become  popular  have  some  distinct  elements  such  as  a  strong  bass  line,  recognizable  chord  changes,  and  unique  riffs  that  can  stick  in  your  head.  One  student  described  how  those  elements  start  to  be  heard:  “[they  show  up]  all  around  you,  in  gas  stations  and  restaurants  with  neon  lights and your work’s playlist even though your boss has no idea what the song means.” This student also described summer  songs  as  feeling  “dreamy”  and  “laid  back,”  as  summer  is  the  time  for  relaxation  and  time  for  oneself  outside  of  school.  Students  also  said  that  summer  songs  had  to  make  them  feel  happy,  “like  frolicking  in  a  field.”  No matter where you’re listening, on the top of a hill after a  long  hike,  in  a  flowery  park,  or  even  in  a  different  country,  the  tunes  you  play  will  hopefully  be  there  to  remind  you  to  feel  good  and  proud  after  all  of  the  long  and  hard  work  after  seven  long  months of learning. 
    In  our  search  for  the  best  up-and-coming summer songs,   we   asked   PHS   students     to     tell     us     some   of   their   favorite   songs     at     the     moment     and   their   predictions   for   the   song  of  the  summer.  The  most  popular  artists  that  were  mentioned  were  Harry  Styles,  Megan  Thee  Stallion,  and  Dua  Lipa.  Some  other  smaller  artists  we  hope  will  get  more  mainstream  are  Faye  Webster,  Leith  Ross,  and  The  Regrettes  (all  of  whom  have  new  releases  from  the  past  few months). We are additionally looking forward to new releases  from  artists  like  Angel  Olsen  and  Post  Malone.  The  upcoming  Minions  Soundtrack,  produced  by  Jack  Antonoff,  also  looks  promising,  and  is  expected  to  have  a  more  indie  sound  than  past  Illumination  soundtracks.  Another  great  movie  soundtrack  planning  on  making  its  debut on June 24 is for the film “Elvis,” which will feature songs  by  Doja  Cat,  Kacey  Musgraves,  Måneskin,  Tame  Impala, Swae Lee, and Diplo. 
 For me, Jane, I recommend a very Sufjan Stevens summer consisting of long bike rides, paperback books, and over-the-ear headphones — achieved, of course, by listening to Sufjan Stevens. His music can be a little jarring at first, so I would recommend “Mystery of Love” to a newer listener, though  my  personal  favorite  of  his  songs  is  “Murder  and  Crime”  from  his  latest  album  with  Angelo  de  Augustine.  Some  of  the  other  songs  that  I  will  be  incorporating  into  my  summer  playlist  will  be  “Lucky  Star”  by  Madonna,  “The   Blonde”   by   TV   Girl,   “Purple   Rain”   by   Prince,   “Daydreaming”  by  Aretha  Franklin,  and  “Steeeam”  by  Shelly. All of these songs have a very upbeat sound and are very light and groovy to get me in the mood for the sun.
  I,  Sarah,  think  that  summer  is  all  about  living  in  the  moment,  making  great  memories,  and  going  on  new  or  exciting   adventures.   My   summertime   playlists   always   include     some     great     slow-build-to-explosive-chords     songs  such  as  “Ghost”  or  “The  Sun  is  Bad”  by  Indigo  De  Souza (or anything by them really). I also feel I’m heavily influenced by the fun jams my parents used to listen to, so I  always  add  some  tunes  from  the  1980s  and  1990s  such  as  “Wake  Me  Up  Before  You  Go-Go”  by  Wham!  or  “Ode  to  My  Family”  by  The  Cranberries.  Finally,  my  favorite  new   thing   I’ve   been   doing   after   watching   Eurovision   in  2020  is  finding  an  overseas  group  to  become  familiar  with: KraftKlub, Måneskin, and Maná have  been  dominating  my  recently-listened-to  bands  in  the  past  three  years.    Honestly,  finding  a  new  band  or  singer  that  has  a  super  cool  and  unique  sound  always  makes  me  so  happy  and  leaves  me  wanting  to  boogie,   it   creates   the   perfect   summer    atmosphere–full    of    change and fun.
 Within the past few years, more and more music has become trendy through platforms like TikTok,  Instagram,  and  Spotify.  These  platforms  create  great   opportunities   for   smaller,   newer   artists   to   gain   popularity and listeners. Overall, the summer music of this year will hopefully be upbeat, cheerful, and dance-worthy! We’re  looking  forward  to  the  charts  dominated  by  good  and groovy songs to be enjoyed by all.  If you would like to listen to some of our other predictions or would just like a good tune, scan the QR code for a Tower summer playlist!


Sarah Kaputa's Work