W hen she had to choose an instrument to learn in the fifth grade, Emily Phillips CC’26 wanted to play the saxophone. But, as the younger sibling of a clarinet player, she inherited her sister’s woodwind — along with a love for playing in a band.

“Band was a big part of my life in high school. I did marching band, jazz and concert band, just all the band stuff available,” she says.

After moving from Amsterdam, Ohio, to New York City, Phillips missed having music as part of her life. She received an email in the Fall 2022 semester about the newly formed Columbia Athletics Pep Band, and immediately joined for the following Spring. She’s held various roles on the group’s executive board — and now is president — and has enjoyed the camaraderie at weekly rehearsals, held on Sundays at Riverside Church.

“Pep band has always been that extracurricular where it’s just pure fun; it’s just a bunch of people who are there because they love playing music, and want to have fun and cheer on Columbia,” Phillips says. “It’s a really special experience.”

Phillips especially enjoys rooting for the women’s basketball team, and lives for those tense moments during games when she has the chance to hype up the crowd. “There’s just something about the energy of a real nail-biter,” she says.

Ahead of Columbia Homecoming 2025, Phillips shared more about what a typical football game day looks like for the Pep Band.

Mornings

“For a typical afternoon home game, our call time is 9:30 at Riverside Church. The rest of the board and I might get there a little earlier, around 9:00. Athletics has breakfast delivered to us, so we set up the bagels and coffee. The rest of our members will trickle in and we’ll have some food, set intentions for the day and sort out any last-minute needs. We’ll head uptown to the stadium on a charter bus around 10:00. Once we get there, we’re thinking about our halftime show, so we’ll find an open space where we can practice our formations and do one full run-through.”

Afternoons

“We set up in the stands before kickoff, and then we’ll play throughout the game, during timeouts and on third downs. We’ll also do a halftime show; we usually do three songs and try to do different shapes or formations for each one. Athletics provides another meal when we’re finished with the show, so we’ll usually get pizza, which is always appreciated. And then we’ll play for the rest of the game and cheer in the stands and just try to get the crowd excited.”

Evenings

“The game typically ends around 3:30 or 4:00, and then we’ll head back to Riverside Church and unload our equipment. That’s the least fun part, with all the big instruments. There’s definitely exhaustion after a full day, so we’ll say our goodbyes and head home after that.”