By Samantha Smith
Roughly 11 months after Hays High opted to remove “Dixie” as the school’s fight song, the Rebel student body last week tabbed what tune will be its replacement.
On April 26, Hays High students voted online for the replacement tune, which was done as part of a process involving the student body.
Dr. Timothy Rhea, Director of Bands at Texas A&M University, composed the winning fight song, which has the current title of Selection A.
While the new fight song does not have a name at this point, it’s currently being referred to as the Hays High Fight Song, said Hays CISD Public Information Officer Tim Savoy said.
“It’s a completely unique song written just for Hays High School,” Savoy said. “We could have had a new fight song as early as December, but the process took longer since the kids wanted to use a custom song instead of using one already in existence.”
Savoy said that while the process of writing and composing an original fight song took longer, the students of Hays High took the reins in the decision, making it that much more special to the school district.
But Savoy said that if the students decide to name the selection, the decision on the name might come as soon as the summer or early fall when students return from summer break.
Hays CISD’s decision to allow students to vote for the new fight song came after Hays High abruptly replaced “Dixie” with “On Wisconsin” in June 2015.
But the decision disappointed parents and students, who were not only upset about the change, but the process involved in removing the song.
Hays High did not seek public input before making the switch.
Administrators approved the creation of a student fight song committee after hearing the overwhelming outcry from students to change “On Wisconsin” to something new.
The student committee, which was made up of 75 students, was split into three subcommittees, which made up the General Fight Song Committee.
According to Savoy, the students of Hays High were front and center during the entire process.
“They (the students) really organized the whole process,” Savoy said.
The student committee first met in November 2015 to discuss what its criteria for the new Hays High fight song would be.
The students decided that they wanted an original fight song to be written and composed for their school, instead of appropriating an already well-known song.
The General Fight Song Committee met ten subsequent times to discuss and deliberate possible composers, as well as what would make up the new chant in the song.
A total of four fight song options that met the committee’s criteria were presented to the student body for a vote. The student body was not given the names of the songs or their composers in order to foster a majority vote from the students. Seniors were also given an additional question asking if they preferred their song choice to be played during graduation ceremonies.
While none of the songs gathered enough majority votes Selections A and D gathered enough votes for a runoff.
The winning chant for the new Hays High fight song:
“Red and White, Rebels fight!
Rebels! Rebels! Fight, fight, fight!”
