For nearly a decade, a small group of female senior students have had an unofficial club on campus organized under the guise that they support the football program, branding themselves as the “Perry Pretties.” Across campus those words been the topic of many controversial conversations in regard to the negative message portrayed by previous year Pretties.

The actions of previous students under the Perry Pretties name has clouded faulty
and student’s judgment of the group alike, as it selected group members based
on looks and popularity.

Those elitist circumstances have resulted in administration banning any group with
the name Perry Pretties, or ones built around similar guidelines, over the past
couple years.

With that, people have made assumptions that have led them to view the Pretties as
some of the “ugliest” girls on campus in regards to how they are presenting
themselves and representing the school.

However, this year the current group of 65 Perry Pretties members are desperately trying
to change that perception, fighting back against hateful assumptions by arguing
that people do not understand the group or what they stand for.  

“The only thing that Perry Pretties was created to do was to support the football team,”
said senior Peighton Gumm, who is one of the members who initiated the reboot
this year. “It’s not anything like pretty girls at Perry only; it’s nothing
like that…it’s just a catchy name.”

What is a ‘Pretty’?

So, what actually are Perry Pretties?

It is, in fact, a group of female seniors whose main purpose is to support senior
football players.

Although it is not recognized as a club on campus, the group has existed for several
years and can be seen in different variations throughout the Chandler Unified
School District: the “Hamilton Hotties,” and “Basha Bellas” being the two prime
examples.

“A lot of schools do it,” senior Kelly Cannistra said, “and it’s been a thing every
single year, so we kind of didn’t want to not do it.” Cannistra is one of the
founding members of this year’s group.

The similar groups seen across CUSD have led to preconceived notions from the
student body of how the other schools are presenting themselves; being one of
an elitist group who hand-picks its members based on social features.

“I thought it was kind of dumb [at first],” senior Pretty member Kaitlyn Yanish
said, “I just figured that it was a group of girls and that it was like super-judgmental.”
She, like many of the current Pretties, says that the perception is a
misunderstanding, and that their goal is to support the school, not tarnish its
reputation.

“It just means being supportive,” she said, and “[be] an all-around good person – being
less selfish.”

How it works

For every home football game, the girls bring the senior football players snacks and they
make them posters for the game. According to many of the Pretties interviewed,
it is a way to show their school spirit a few times a year.

Senior linebacker Marcus Powell is grateful for the Pretties support. Since preparing
for football games can be mentally and physically exhausting, he appreciates
the gesture.

“They just gave me a bunch of goodies like Mike and Ikes, and beef jerky and stuff
like that, and good luck notes,” he said. “It’s good to have as a morale
booster. I mean, they are telling us good job and it helps us out because it
gets us in our mental state preparing for the game.”

Senior safety Brock Johnson says he looks forward to home games, partially because of
the support from the Pretties.

“I think that it’s beneficial because it kind of gives us a little bit more motivation
to win,” he said.

In November’s Precedent

While the Pretties strive to be supporters, they have never been accepted as an official club on campus. However, with this new atmosphere surrounding the Pretties, teachers have begun to be embrace the group because of their new image they are representing. Next month, we will look into the issues administration, teachers and students have had with the Pretties, and what the girls’ plan is to move the group forward.