Originally posted by WataugaDemocrat.com
BOONE — Following a very successful first year in the 6A classification, Watauga High School has announced that athletic passes will be offered for free to all WHS students for the upcoming school year.
The Watauga High School Booster Club announced via social media that they are fortunate to make the announcement for the third year in a row, after seeing the fan support at Pioneer athletic events over the last two years.
That impact resulted in Watauga winning a dozen Northwestern Conference championships and being named the Student Section of the Year by High School OT for the second year in a row.
This full sponsorship for a second-straight year comes from a joint effort between Jay Harrill and Foscoe Companies and the WHS Booster Club.
“As our top athletic sponsor, Jay is making this effort possible and increasing the Booster Club’s support for all teams at Watauga High,” the WHS Booster Club said in a social media post. “Last school year, we saw this sponsorship gift encourage student engagement, increase the Pioneer fan base for all sports and remove the cost of student tickets for WHS families.
“Thank you for your incredibly generous support, Jay and Foscoe Companies,” WHS Booster Club added. “We recognize how rare it is for athletic passes to be free for high school students, and Pioneer families are so grateful. We’ll be celebrating this gift for the entire 2026-27 school year.”
Students and parents are encouraged to download the Watauga Pioneer Athletics application to access free student passes, as well as to purchase adult and children’s passes.
All parties will be asked, but not required, to create an account (with a username and password) to access the app. The passes will be digital, and students can access them through their phones.
Passes will be accepted for all regular-season home games, according to the booster club. Passes will not be accepted for scrimmages, tournaments, playoff or away games.
The passes will be good until June 2027.
The first home regular-season event was this past Monday, with boys soccer taking on Ashe County at Jack Groce Stadium. Watauga girls tennis will open the regular season with home matches on Aug. 12 (vs. R.J. Reynolds) and Aug. 14 (vs. New Hanover).