Screams and cheers echo through the stadium. On the field, class officers, athletes and the Student Government Association (SGA) are jumping about, their features barely distinguishable behind the copious amounts of red, white and blue face paint. The first pep rally of the year has begun.
The annual back-to-school pep rally, held on Sept. 2, did more than just introduce the sports teams and reveal this year’s homecoming theme, for the first time a class officer relay race and a tug of war between classes were also included.
The events, which awarded the winners with money for their class, were won by the junior and senior classes. Junior class President Julian Leven and Vice President Forest Wu beat the other class officers in the relay race by jumping quickly in a sack, figuring out how to cooperate and walking together in the three-legged race portion and answering a school trivia question correctly.
The senior class proved themselves to be the strongest class when they won tug of war against the juniors and then again against the sophomores.
The addition of these new events was, according to senior SGA member Nina Thompson, an attempt to “try to make the audience feel more included and make [the pep rally] more fun for everyone not participating.”
Judging from the amount of cheering from the stands, as well as statements from tug of war participants, including senior Perry Vinner, the SGA’s attempts succeeded.
“Even though the teams were very uneven,” Vinner said “I still enjoyed participating in tug of war and getting to be on the field and seeing the pep rally from a different perspective.”
The pep rally also included a small skit by the SGA to reveal this year’s Homecoming theme; Around the World, which students are excited about.
“I think this year’s theme will be a lot of fun,” sophomore Caitlin Chang said. “It’s also a great opportunity for learn about cultures from all around the world. I’m really excited to see the hallways and floats.”
Even though Friday was largely about the pep rally, students still enjoyed other aspects of the day including listening to music played over the loudspeakers and showing off what class they belong to through their face paint, beads and tutus.
“Pep rally days are so much fun because people can go completely over the top and no one cares,” senior Gabriella Hachem said, “Sometimes it’s nice to have a change from jeans and T-shirts, and pep rally days give us that opportunity. I had a great day rocking red, white and blue with my tie dye T and red cape and the pep rally itself was really good too. SGA did a great job this year.”

Shelby Ting

Front Page Editor