Winter pep rally held
By Geena Elghossain, Viking Vibe Staff
The school-wide pep rallies have become an annual occurrence, taking place every spring.
This year, the student council decided to schedule a winter pep rally to celebrate the school spirit and school athletes.
Because the pep rally usually only takes place in the spring, the school is only able to recognize and appreciate the spring athletes. However, by having one in the winter, they are able to reach more students and more sports.
“At first being recognized felt a little bit weird because swimming isn’t a sport that’s recognized a lot. A lot of people don’t even know that our school even has a swim team, so it was good in that sense” said senior Rachel Szachara, a captain of the varsity swim team and executive member on the student council, “We work really hard, and just as often as every other sport so it was nice that some more people might have found out about the swim team and who’s on it.”
Pep rallies are a great way not only to recognize the sports department, but to bring the school together and gather spirit.
To help build up the anticipation, every rally is preceded by a week of differently themed days. Usually it is the Monday through Thursday leading up to the rally on Friday, but this year it is being planned a little differently, neither on a full day or a Friday.
The pep rally took place Tuesday, Dec. 23, as the last half-day before break.
“We thought this would be a fun way to end essentially the 2014 year before we leave on break. Especially on a half day, we’re kind of just rolling with the craziness,” said Kelly Boyer, the student council advisor.
The pep rally is usually an hour-and-a-half event, and takes place after third block on a full day. However, because Tuesday was a half-day, a special schedule had to be made to accommodate the unique assembly.
According to Ms. Boyer, this meant that, in order to go to all four classes this day, each class was cut to 43 minutes. Students headed down to the gymnasium at 10:45 a.m., and the assembly took place between 11 a.m. and the end of the school day.
“Having the really quick classes and moving around all day, ending with the really lively crowd, it really felt fun and relaxed. With all the stress that comes in the long weeks of school, having this before going right into a big break was a great way to end” said senior Brenna Fisher.
Even though it was shortened, plans for the pep rally were still big and exciting.
The spirit day theme was class-color. This is different from the past— since pep rallies are typically held on a Friday, the go-to spirit day theme has been to wear black and gold.
They retained the Friday tradition, and made it work with the pep rally by bringing out class spirit as well as school spirit.
There were many events in addition to the recognition of the athletes, including the class-wars relay races, and recognition of the VIPs. Announcing was done by Student Council Vice President Tyler Sanders (16) and Board of Education Representative Sophia Balsamo (16).
Recognition of the senior athletes was announced by captains of the respective team.
There were also featured performances by the winter cheerleading team, dance team and visual ensemble.
“I look forward to the pep rallies and being able to see all the teams and watch the dance team and visual ensemble. It makes you realize how much our school really has to offer and that we have a lot to be proud of,” said Szachara.

