WOODBURY – Pink, neon, camo – they’re just a few of colors and designs that popped from the Nonnewaug student section throughout the football season. 

For Nonnewaug High School, football games are just one of the many ways that students come together. But for many students, simply attending the games isn’t enough. When you throw themes into the equation, it draws more excitement to the idea of attending. 

“I feel like the themes totally add to the experience of a football game. It makes it so much more exciting and adds a vibe,” said Ava Hirleman, a freshman at Nonnewaug. “I feel like if we didn’t have them, it wouldn’t be as entertaining in the student section.” 

Declan Curtin, the athletic director at Nonnewaug, adds that football game themes are prepared ahead of time, with numerous steps involved.

“There’s a process to picking the themes; first we use our Athletes’ Council, which meets periodically. They throw out ideas of what they would like to do,” said Curtin. “We also work with the [football] booster club because they also heavily plan these nights, like for our pink-out game.”

Not only do the themes instill a sense of pride to the Nonnewaug stands, but they also support the community.  

“We have a military night that we just held where many members of the community who provided service to our armed forces were acknowledged,” said Curtin. “Every year we also have a pink-out game where we’re trying to raise money for breast cancer [awareness] and Cancer Couch. I believe this year we raised $1,600.” 

Seeing the spirit at games throughout the student section, Scott Viveros, a sophomore football player at Nonnewaug, feels that when more people participate in the themes, it shows a lot of pride for the school. 

“I think it’s really fun how everyone wears pink during the pep rally and then shows up to the games with it, too. It shows a lot of school pride,” said Viveros. “As a football player, it’s cool to see the fans supporting us and participating in the themes.”

Junior football player R.J. Barksdale agrees with Viveros. 

“It’s cool to see the fans supporting us and seeing all the colors in the stands,” Barksdale added.

Many are looking forward to upcoming themes as Nonnewaug basketball season is just around the corner. Some of the suggestions made by students at a recent football game consisted of a neon theme, a blackout, a whiteout, and a western theme, in addition to the annual redout basketball doubleheader against Shepaug.

“Now that football is over, I’m looking forward to basketball games so we can go all-out with the themes,” said Hirleman. “There are still a lot of themes that they didn’t do for football, so hopefully if they pick them, everyone will participate and it will be a lot of fun.”