For the first time in CHS history, Wild Bunch and Big Game Club are accepting students from all grade levels. Since they were previously only accepting senior, this is a change that affects all grades. Most sophomores and juniors are very excited, but some seniors are disappointed with the change.

Big Game Club Sponsor Brad Pearson had been considering the idea for opening up the club to grades 10-12 instead of just seniors for a while. He said he had asked the senior class of 2015 and some current seniors for their opinion, and the majority opinion was to make the change.

“When there is a change made you will always have mixed feelings. There are some seniors that didn’t like the change because they had waited until their senior year to be in Big Game,” Pearson said via email.

Wild Bunch member and senior Hanna Gates was excited to represent and be a part of the student section. However, she wasn’t too thrilled about the new change.

“It’s definitely an awesome opportunity for the underclassmen, but as a senior, it’s kind of disappointing since we waited 3 years to be in a ‘senior exclusive group,’” Gates said.

Fresh Game, however, still exists, which has the same motive as Big Game, but exclusively for freshmen. Last year’s Fresh Game co-president and  current sophomore Griffin Gonzalez made Fresh Game very popular last year. This year, the previous freshmen and current sophomores are allowed to participate in Big Game.

“I think they [current sophomores] are excited to be a part of Big Game and partake in themes and be able to be a bigger part of Friday nights,” Gonzalez said.

Pearson said the main reason he made the change was because he did not like what the student section had become.

“When I was a senior at Carmel in ‘05 to ’06, we had Big Game and Wild Bunch but our underclassmen were just as involved in our student section as we were.” Pearson also added that CHS could win a spirit award this year due to more students being involved in the club. He said that he saw no downsides to having more members.

In addition, Pearson said the Big Game club also strives to have a positive impact on the community. Last year, they did the Breast Cancer Walk with the Making Strides foundation and placed in the top 5 in money donated. They plan on doing the same event this year, but with much more people in the club, they can be more successful.

The environment is different, however, with more grade levels. However, Pearson intended for the seniors to be in charge of the club. Gonzalez also recognizes the importance of the seniors in the club.

“The thing is, we don’t want to take it away from seniors. That’s their thing, we still want them in the front row. We’re not taking that away from them because it’s a senior thing and that’s what’s so great about being a senior,” Gonzalez said.

He says the games are still very enjoyable and just as fun as last year, if not more. With over three times as many people as before in the club this yeard, they are one step closer to winning the spirit award. Gonzalez thinks there is no reason that they cannot win them.