Tonight, the stadium’s stands will fill with people of all ages waiting for the annual Powder Puff game to kickoff. After just three scheduled practices, the girls will line the field and prepare to begin the game; the only difference is that there are less players. This year’s 120 seniors is down five from last year and 19 from the year before that. Only 80 juniors are playing which is down 20 from last year and 11 more from the year before that. When sign ups for Powder Puff,sponsored by Knights of Excellence (KOE), came around, finding people to participate was so difficult that KOE extended the dead- line for forms. Many people think that it is due to the lack of announcements.

“If there are reasons that girls aren’t playing Powder Puff, then that’s fine,” KOE sponsor Lindsey Scheller said. “We just don’t want that reason to be because we didn’t hear about it. We want to make sure that they aren’t not finding out about it.”

According to Scheller, the number of students has kept declining every year since morning announce- ments were ended in the 2011 school year. One thing that KOE plans to do to fix this problem is to go visit each of the junior and senior homerooms next year so that everyone has a chance to hear about the game. Although most agree that announcements are one of the biggest contributing factors to the decline in participants, some believe that the cost to participate also plays a part. In order to play in the game, there is either a $28 or $37 fee, depending on whether or not the girls want to keep their jersey.

“It’s a lot of money to do it your junior and senior year so I know a lot of people who are just doing it their senior year because of the cost,” junior Haley Holman said.

All proceeds from the game go to other activities KOE does later on in the year, such as the KOE Picnic. Because the game is a fundraiser for the club, tickets cost $3 in advance and will cost $4 at the gate and sports passes cannot be used. “The money we raise helps us put on better events throughout the year that allow us to celebrate teachers, staff, and students,” KOE Vice President Missy Cloward said.