Andrews – With the new school year fast approaching, students at Andrews Elementary School will enjoy a new anthem composed by local musician Troy Underwood that debuted at the fifth-grade graduation in May.
The collaboration between Underwood, fifth-grade teachers and their students was about coming up with something new for graduation, according to Principal Kim Davis. The seed for the anthem was planted when Hoppy Trout Brewing Co. owners Corey and Kam Thompson learned there were little to no music opportunities for students at the school.
Corey said when they were delivering one of the four donation checks they’d helped raise for the school, Davis offered them a tour.
“During our visit, Principal Davis shared that the school doesn’t have a music program dude to a lack of funding. However, she mentioned how much she would love for the school to have its own song,” he said.
“I immediately thought of someone perfect for the job and told her I’d personally cover the entire cost. Right then and there I messaged Troy Underwood, and he messaged back that he’d be honored to help. I connected him with the school’s administrator, Shirley Cunningham, and she coordinated everything to get him in the school along with a date to begin working with students in the fifth grade.”
That impetus gave both the students and musician a wellspring of ideas for seeing off the 2024-25 Wildcats class in style, while making a legacy anthem for the school in future years. Underwood said he wanted to make a true anthem, one that would both signal the history and the future of classes at Andrews Elementary and to make a traditional song that would apply to each graduating class as they grow into other schools.
With lyrics including, “O say can you hear it, it’s in our school spirit,” and “We, we are the Wildcats, Hear us roar,” the song will be sung well into the years that remain.
Details: Visit aes.cherokee.k12.nc.us.