Standing in the sweaty gym, packed in tight with fellow classmates, screaming, all for one common goal: the Jug.

“I’m thrilled and elated to have the Jug again” junior class advisor Ellyn Whitten-Smith said. “It represents a class working together for a common goal.”

Unlike Whitten-Smith’s class of 2007, who allegedly lost pep rallies for being “too enthusiastic,” the class of 2019 pulled together and won. Their loud yelling and roller coaster imitation gave them an edge over the rest of the classes and the juniors are once again in possession of the Jug. The last time they possessed the Jug was the first pep rally of the 2016-2017 school year. The class of 2018 held onto it for the other two pep rallies since then.

“School spirit is awesome!” junior Molly Kingsbury said.

The Jug allows Presque Isle pep rallies to not only celebrate athletes, but to celebrate all students and the school as a whole. Getting pumped for playoffs may be a result of the scream filled room, however, it also gets students pumped for Wildcat Madness. As the first point scoring event of the year, students strive to win for their class.

“The Jug symbolizes past classes to the future,” Kingsbury said.

While upperclassmen have either inherited their love of the Jug from an older sibling, or grown to love it in their own time, freshman are still unsure of what it means. The grungy appearance hasn’t yet been masked by a meaning and a connection. The Jug to them is just something that vaguely resembles a wildcat.

“It looked weird,” freshman Izzy Higgins said. “It didn’t look how I thought it would.”

Unique to Presque Isle High School, the Jug is much more than a papier-mâchéd Elmer’s glue bottle. When dropped on the ground students and teachers panic. The Jug represents school spirit, united classes and victory. The Jug: a prize that can only be won when athletes, artists, actors, geniuses and all others unite.