On Jan. 7, DGS alumni returned to perform with the pep band at Friday’s basketball game. This event was widely anticipated by last year’s graduating class, as they missed pep band season their senior year due to COVID.

Band director Daniel Tedeschi worked with the marching band during remote learning, but he didn’t get to help conduct pep band and meet his students face to face last year. Tedeschi said this was a good opportunity for last year’s seniors to come back, play in the band and bond without the screen.

“… I didn’t get to see [last year’s seniors] actually perform on their instruments or in person. Getting to see them in person and interacting with them on a face to face basis was something very important to me. I think it was a cool night to come back and be together for some music, which is very exciting,” Tedeschi said.

While the student section danced to crowd favorites such as “Proud Mary,” “Sweet Caroline” and “7 Nation Army,” the pep band basked in the elevated sound that came from the alumni. Senior Nate Casey said it was exciting to see old faces combined with the new while playing.

“Nothing has changed [between] us and the seniors at all. We lost touch obviously, as people do. Once we saw each other and started playing, we clicked instantly,” Casey said.

After missing his last pep band season, alumni Jacob Messina said this event was something he was looking forward to since graduating.

“I loved the pep band; it was always one of the most [fun] bands by far. I missed out on that hard my senior year. I had a great time being back… getting to see everybody again was wild, and I had a good time with it,” Messina said.

The pep band will play again on Jan. 15 at the varsity girls basketball game against Leyden at 12:45 p.m.