Creighton University’s Blue Crew is present at many of Creighton’s sporting events to help cheer on the Bluejays. Last week, they hosted tryouts to recruit new members.

Blue Crew currently has 51 members, according to general member John Slaybaugh, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. Each year they accept up to 25 people into Blue Crew.

Slaybaugh said these tryouts are in place to determine which people have “good energy and are comfortable with us.”

Blue Crew tryouts lasted all day on both Sept. 8 and 9. The audience included a full panel of Blue Crew Executives and a group of general members.

Each tryout included several questions about availability and reasons for wanting to join Blue Crew.

After those logistical questions, current Blue Crew members asked several questions intended to gauge each applicant’s personality, like, “if you were a kitchen appliance, what would you be?”

Each candidate was asked slightly different questions.

Candidates ended the tryout by singing Creighton’s fight song, “The White and the Blue,” and then dancing to a random song.

“The best part of Blue Crew is getting to be an integral part of the student section and helping with the whole game day experience,” Hank Salsbury, the executive team’s scheduler and a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.

Clare Williams, the current President of Blue Crew and a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that the Blue Crew is a vital part of the student section, because they provide cheers and a sense of unity.

“Blue Crew is important because of the energy it brings to every event we attend, whether it’s a game or not. We attend events during freshman orientation where we teach the new students the fight song and where we

welcome them to Morrison during the March to Morrison,” Williams said.

Williams also said Blue Crew is important to help athletes playing sports with a lower attendance feel recognition for their work.

“While some might think we’re a hindrance at men’s basketball games, we are more often than not some of the only students cheering and attending women’s basketball and volleyball games.”

Tryouts are every fall, and all of the executives recommend that anyone interested tryout. The structure of tryouts stays the same each year.

Williams believes that they will be accepting 15-20 new members this year.