The Waynesburg Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Student Senate have teamed up to sponsor an official athletics student section, ‘The Hive.’

Luke Diel, sophomore political science major and SAAC president, explained that the creation of ‘The Hive’ has been a collaborative effort with the athletic department.

“So, the big thing with SAAC is we are actually a branch of the athletic department, and the athletic department had approached us earlier this year about trying to get more student involvement in coming to games,” Diel said. “It’s something they’ve been working with us on, eventually there will be an official banner with ‘The Hive Student Section’.”

The student section will host theme nights at basketball games, which will also include free giveaways for students that can be obtained by scanning a barcode at the door.

Ryan Williams, junior political science major and Student Senate president, explained the senate’s strategy to build a relationship with SAAC to work on this project.

“We found a shared interest with SAAC in that we want to get more students to come to the games, so we thought ‘what better way than giving away free stuff for the students?’” Williams said.

“I think our main purpose with this is that our athletes work really hard, and so we really just want to give back to the athletes and make the student section something to be feared.”

Students who show up to join ‘The Hive’ for games will have a chance to collect giveaways such as cups, wristbands and miniature Waynesburg basketballs. This past Saturday, ‘The Hive’ gave away horns to create noise, and Williams liked what he saw.

“When we give out stuff they can use in-game, it definitely gets a lot more rowdy,” Williams said. “People started to use the horns, so hopefully it gets really loud and gets pretty hype.”

Both SAAC and Student Senate want to change the culture around Waynesburg sports and have more students involved with the teams.

“We want students to come to the game and support our teams,” Diel said. “The teams do a lot better when they have a loud student section right there with them, so we are also looking to improve the athletics here and get a better mentality for students.”

While the pairing of the two organizations is new, ‘The Hive’ will  continue to grow and bring the Waynesburg sports community together.

“I know this is our first time doing something like this with SAAC, but it seems like people are pretty interested and we hope that continues in the future,” Williams said. “We want to make it a fun environment.”