If you go to a Bentonville basketball game on Tuesday and Friday nights, you'll see something new every time. But it’s not the team on the court. Bentonville is enjoying a successful season. It’s the fans in the student section that have come up with a unique way of getting more people to go to the games.
They call themselves “The Jungle”. Every game has a different theme. Last Friday was beach night.
“The jungle is really fun,” said senior Jordan Murray. “Dressing up gets us all really excited and pumped for the game.”
“It makes more people come to the games,” said junior Chance Pickering. “That's ultimately what the student section is about. So we thought we'd just carry that tradition on.”
It started a couple of years ago. A silly little idea by a few students has now turned into a school-wide hit.
“I used to think it was kind of weird,” said senior Candace Gerads. “But now that I'm a senior, why not? I just dress up and don't care. It's a lot of fun.”
That’s especially true with all the different themes; frat night, nerd night, Christmas night and the most popular, Jersey Shore night.
“Our main goal is to fill up the student section for Coach Mac and get the players hyped up and win us a ball game,” said junior Josh Crenshaw.
So far it has helped. Bentonville currently sits in a tie for second place in the 7A/6A West.
But high school kids will be high school kids. Every night they get fully into character. Last Friday the beach bums were laying out on their towels during halftime. Not all outfits and actions are going to be OK with the faculty.
“Sometimes we get kind of into it and they come over and talk to us,” said junior Clay McConnell. “But I think they like it just as much as we do.”
As long as nothing gets too out of hand, the staff agrees.
“These are really good kids,” said Bentonville principal Kim Garrett. “Most of the time everything is fine. They know if they are getting close to that line. Usually someone will talk to me and say we need to tone it down.”