The sea of bodies gradually grows as the student body awaits its next instruction. The students are cold. They are tired. Yet, as the cameras begin rolling, they are instantly filled with energy as they huddle even closer together to showcase their school spirit.

On Friday Oct. 14, Huntley High School participated in the ABC 7 Friday Flyover for the first time.

550 students and staff gathered at 5 a.m. in order to show their Red Raider spirit. Students had the opportunity to be a part of three formations that would be filmed by ABC 7’s helicopter and shown on live TV.

In the free time, students were given hot chocolate and munchkins, provided by Dunkin Donuts, to help keep them warm.

The preparations began setting in approximately two months prior after ABC 7 reached out to the high school.   

“We found out that a parent had been tweeting at Tracy Butler in order to get us an invitation,” Scott Rowe, principal, said. “Before we knew it, we got a call from ABC.”

HHS administration quickly got to work by creating a google form in order to help mobilize the students. Students were then able to vote on their favorite formations as well as request transportation. Buses were available to all students in an effort to gather as many Raiders as possible.

Huntley’s Marching Band also played a big role in the Flyover as director Philip Carter and student Matt Rodriguez worked together to create three successful formations.

Marching Band members were in charge of creating the outline of all of the formations so that the remaining students could simply ‘fill in the dots’.

“[The Marching Band] reads the football field like a grid,” Carter said. “So it only took us about 20 minutes of rehearsal to get the formations down.”

With the band in place, all 550 Red Raiders were able to impress viewers by creating three formations: ‘HHS’, ‘Raiders’, and ‘Huntley loves ABC 7’.

The Red Raiders hope their efforts were enough as they await the results of the competition. Despite the outcome, they are happy to have had such an opportunity.

“The best part was that this reached the entire district on some level,” Rowe said. “It really got the school together through a team effort.