KINGMAN – Alex Schreiner remembers Pajama Day during her first spirit week as a Kingman High School freshman three years ago, and the unexpected disappointment that came with it.
 
Anticipating something similar to her prior student experiences halfway across town at St. Patrick Catholic School, Schreiner donned a hooded onesie with slippers, and proudly entered the school building.
 
"I went all out," said the outgoing Schreiner, now a senior. "I just thought that's what you did. You participated, you got class points, you won and then you bragged about it.
 
"Instead, I was totally embarrassed because hardly anyone else dressed up. I was called a 'Try-hard.' I was like, 'OK, I guess I'm not going to dress up as big as I would normally."
 
Nowadays, Schreiner and her friend and volleyball and basketball teammate, junior Marissa DeWeese, comprise a duo that Kingman athletic director Rollie Van Wyhe calls "major influencers". Others might call them spirit animals. Fueled by a desire to heighten school pride among their fellow students and establish traditions for younger Eagles to follow, the pair created the Kingman Junior Booster Club.
 
Schreiner and DeWeese are the Capitol Federal True Blue® Students of the Week.
 
"We didn't have as many people showing up as they had when we were growing up as little kids and being excited to go to the games," DeWeese said. "That had kind of diminished a little bit. Alex came to me and she was wondering if I would help her put on this junior booster club.
 
"We would just go and do as much as we could to promote school spirit and make a positive environment in our school."
 
Schreiner and DeWeese launched the club this fall with the aid of the Kingman Eagle Booster Club. More than 80 Kingman students in ninth through 12^th grades initially signed up. The club conducts its meetings outside school hours.
 
The junior booster club is led by a six-student board, with representation from Kingman's cheerleading squad and various sports. For Van Wyhe, the student-led group held greater potential for positive changes.
 
"We just needed someone to take charge and we found them," Van Wyhe said of Schreiner and DeWeese. "Nobody wants to listen to a 45-year-old guy."
 
Before the junior booster club came along, one Kingman High tradition wasn't unanimously embraced. During homecoming week, students would string toilet paper in trees along the residential part of Main Street, generating complaints.
 
"It kind of made the community not like the high school," DeWeese said. "We wanted to mend that relationship."
 
This year, as game days approach, the mile-long stretch of Main that runs northward from U.S. 54 toward the high school offers evidence of Schreiner's and DeWeese's good works. The street is flanked by numerous black banners with the Eagles logo and Kingman Eagles in red lettering. The words "Welcome to the Kingdom" also appear along with the name of each banner's sponsor.
 
A Kingman screen printing business and welding company helped produce the banners, which the junior booster club sold for $100 and $75 for each additional purchase. An initial order of 40 quickly sold out, and in early December, nearly 80 banners lined the streets.
 
"We were well overwhelmed with how many people bought banners," Schreiner said.
 
The timing for the girls' spirit push couldn't have been better. Kingman's football team, which included Schreiner's twin brother, Colby, an All-Class 2A linebacker, posted a 10-2 record and reached the state semifinals for the first time in 49 years.
 
Kingman's game-night atmosphere complemented the Eagles' stellar play. There were theme nights for the student section, locally sponsored contests like Punt, Pass and Kick for the seniors players' dads, and a pregame entry tunnel for players lined with band members and younger fans among others.
 
Schreiner and DeWeese also helped fulfill one of Van Wyhe's wishes – teaching Kingman students the words to the school fight song. The pair led a pep assembly to teach Kingman's version of "Down the Field," the University of Tennessee's fight song.
 
"We had 17 minutes to do it near the end of the school day," Schreiner said. "We did it in the auditorium. We had a projector and showed a video of football highlights, and then taught them the words."
 
Schreiner and DeWeese also had a hand in community pep rallies during the Eagles' playoff run. The pair participated in skits, including one that mimicked ESPN's College GameDay, at the rallies in downtown Kingman. Schreiner played a desk anchor, interviewing Kingman coach Tanner Hageman and Eagles players, while DeWeese was a sideline reporter.
 
"I feel like a lot of people in our school were looking for some sort of tradition or some sort of form of school spirit," DeWeese said. "They just didn't know how. Everyone is super welcoming to our ideas."
 
The junior booster club has worked to reciprocate the support to other Kingman teams. Van Wyhe said student attendance at Eagles' volleyball matches increased, and the group has focused on increasing crowds for the Kingman girls basketball team.
 
"I think our coaches support each other," Van Wyhe said. "That's really grown. We've got a football coach who supports the volleyball team and our volleyball coach supports the football team.
 
"This basketball season, we've had a large turnout for our girls games. They've put that challenge out to their classmates, and there's been a real camaraderie among our students. Kind of a 'If I'm going to come support you, you're going to come and support me.'"
 
Schreiner has sensed a buy-in throughout the student body all the way down to the freshman class, which includes her younger twin siblings, Collin and Ryan. She is confident some of the things she and DeWeese have introduced will have staying power.
 
"My little sister and her friend have the fight song words as their home screen background," Schreiner said. "Now they know it by heart. I've told them, 'You know, you can change it to something else.' But they want to have it in case someone else doesn't know it."