A ripple cannot begin on its own; it must have a trigger. For Wylie Football’s new tradition, the Bulldog Effect, that trigger was senior football moms Amber Peck and Rachel Keesee.
During the evening of Oct. 17, Keesee stumbled upon the video of senior football players in Pennsylvania recognizing teachers who impacted them during their time in school. That same evening, Peck came across the same video.
They awoke the next morning to see both had shared the same video with each other.
What are the odds, right? However, Peck doesn’t believe in coincidences. “There are no odds,” said Peck. “Rachel and I knew it had to happen.”
They knew their sons, along with the other senior players, had been impacted by teachers at Wylie and felt strongly that they should have the opportunity to tell them. The two brainstormed about how this would look at Wylie and found the best time would be on senior night, which was at the last district home game of the season.
Initially, two factors presented to be a challenge: first, the time frame to complete such a task was limited, and secondly, so was the experience Keesee and Peck had with audio/visual production. What would stop many, didn’t stop them. From beginning to end, it took a span of two weeks to create the first ever Bulldog Effect.
The first step was to rally the 32 senior football players. On Sunday, Oct. 21, they shared their thoughts with the boys.
“We told them we have an idea for you – to share your senior night with those who impacted you,” said Peck. “Not one of them didn’t want to do it. They were all on board.”
After getting approval from football head coach Clay Martin, the idea could now start taking shape, so Keesee and Peck began to divide and conquer the tasks to get it done.
“We sent out a google form that week for the boys to pick their top three most impactful teachers. We did behind the scenes work that week because it was a huge game that Friday (against Memorial), and we didn’t want to disrupt their focus,” said Keesee.
Behind the scenes work included Keesee designing a T– shirt for the teachers, and Peck creating the invitation; both items would be presented the following week to the teacher personally by the football player who selected them. Now, they could move on to the video tribute that would be played at the conclusion of the football game Nov. 1.
“We filmed the first part of the video Sunday, Oct. 27 and filmed the teacher surprises the 28th, 29th and 30th,” said Keesee. With less than 24 hours between the last surprise teacher presentation and the last home game, Keesee quickly completed video production and had it ready for the game.
“Rachel did her magic,” said Peck of the video tribute. “And a whim became a reality.”
Peck said she and Keesee have such an affinity and love for these boys and knew each had teachers who felt the same and who had poured into them during their time at school in Wylie ISD.
>>>>>BLOOPERS Reel