New life is being brought to the student section at UNI athletic events, as a call for Panthers to pack the stands has been heard all around campus.
Saturday, Sept. 9, we got to see Panther Mayhem in full effect at the football home opener. By game time, the student section was almost entirely full — a rare sight from previous years’ games. Panther Mayhem’s efforts to draw in students seemed to pay off, and they brought much needed energy into the UNI-Dome.
Unlike in the past when there was a mass exodus of students at halftime, most people stayed for the entire game despite the team’s loss.
Back in 2009, the UNI student section at sporting events became an official organization called the Panther Pep Crew, which would eventually earn the title Panther Mayhem. The group has been around since then, but started to go to the wayside with COVID-19. That is until this year, when Panther Mayhem was brought back to life by students wanting to get more engagement at UNI sporting events.
Panther Mayhem’s goal is to promote sporting events to students, pack the bleachers and to create an exciting gameday experience. Northern Iowa Student Government (NISG) President Micaiah Krutsinger was one of the biggest advocates for bringing back Panther Mayhem and says that he was able to team up with UNI athletics to bring back the mayhem.
“To truly bring it back we wanted to look at ways to see how we could rebuild the organization as a whole, and I’m happy that we were able to partner with athletics and bring it back,” Krutsinger said.
He also acknowledged that although the student section has existed, it has not been conducive to an exciting environment the past couple of years.
“The students were missing something at the sporting events, the atmosphere was just not as it used to be,” Krutsinger said.
Panther Mayhem Co-president Savannah Soltero had some insight on what could improve the atmosphere of the student section.
“Our goal is to bring as many students as we can to fill the student section and just get more hype and bring back traditions that have been in the student section in the past,” Soltero said.
Some of these traditions include jingling the keys at kick off, the Interlude dance, reading newspapers during opposing lineup calls and chants of old. These traditions, Soltero hopes, will encourage more student engagement, and she says there may be more exciting activities on the way.
“We have a couple of things up our sleeves that we’re gonna try to implement as the games go on,” Soltero said.
Organizers of Panther Mayhem are actively recruiting students, and were at the student organization fair as well as tabling in Maucker Union in efforts to promote attendance to events.
For more information about Panther Mayhem, follow them on Instagram @Panthermayhem.
