Shining bright under the halftime Friday night lights, the Wylie East Band hopes to shine brighter than usual. Always a hit during halftime performances, the band plans to draw in extra attention at the Sept. 28 game with the addition of lights to their uniforms.

“When I found out our uniforms were going to feature lights, I was very excited and interested to see how it would work out,” senior Michael Villa-Blais said. “It is very intriguing.”

The lights on the uniforms are very fitting because the show is titled “Luminescence” this year.  The band hopes to catch the crowd off guard when they all simultaneously light up on the field at each performance.

“I heard about the band getting lights on their uniforms this year and I can’t wait to see how it will look when it is put into action,” senior Charles Stephens said.

While on the field, the hats of the uniforms are designed to light up during certain parts of the show, sometimes different colors on different locations of the field, and sometimes the same blue or white colors. Visual effects like these require a lot of planning and concentration to be executed precisely. 

“The whole band has a certain count where we reach up and click a switch on top of our hats,” senior Christopher Black said. “There are multiple switches that make the lights a specifically assigned color, blue, or white.”

However, adding lights to every uniform was very high in cost and ran over the band’s budget. The band directors had to get very creative with attaining their goal of having their show and uniforms feature lights this year.

 “The lights on our hats are actually just broken LED flashlights installed onto the hats,” senior Harrison King said.

The band performs at every varsity football game and will wear their uniforms at every performance. They also have several competitions in October and November, where they are scored based off of music, marching and visual elements.

“Having lights on our hats will add to the visual elements of the show and also reinforce our theme of ‘Luminescence,’” senior Luke Dailey said. “The hard work that we have put forward in creating this year’s show will pay off. We will definitely give the crowd something to enjoy.”