As excitement rose for the “Under the Sea” themed homecoming, Varsity club adviser Amy Fisher and Athletic Director Gary Macallister got together to plan a high-spirited Pep Rally that would energize the students and fuel enthusiasm for the weekend’s festivities. 

Fisher was informed by administration that she would be integral in planning the pep rally in August, but the official planning didn’t start until last month. 

“It was really just a matter of organizing the teams,” said Fisher. “Most of the activities are already planned out from other years.” 

After three meetings, Fisher and Macallister were ready to host the pep rally with a few, fun, new twists. Clubs and sports such as band, cheerleading, and Student Council helped with the participating and organizing pep rally events.

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As students filed into the gym wearing their elaborate spirit wear, which ranged anywhere from face paint to tutu’s, band members played festive music. 

“My favorite part of pep rally is probably walking into the gym and seeing the drumline playing and getting pumped up,” said Fisher, earlier that week.

After students got settled into their bleachers, it was time for the color guard to join the band, flying their flags high into the air and spinning rifles in unison to songs that had even Rudi the Ram dancing on the sidelines. 

Cheers were still fading as the band and colorguard left the gym floor and the cheerleaders rolled out their matts to start a dance routine that involved dancing, cartwheels, back flips, and high flying formations, all performed to a medley of popular songs, which students could sing along to in the stands. 

After the cheerleader’s routine, it was time to present the Homecoming Court. Seniors and Student Council members Karlie Fromm and Savannah Sealover introduced the court two at a time as the members walked down the gym arm in arm with creative couples costumes. These included: Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam, Pikachu and Ash, Fred and Wilma, Shaggy and Velma, Superman and Wonder Woman, A fisherman and a fish, Woody and Jessie, and Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. 

Normally, after the court is introduced, it is time for the screaming match between the classes, but this year, Fisher and Macallister planned a new activity to reenergize the students after the, albeit fun, yet slower tradition of introducing the court. 

Five randomly selected students from each grade, along with five teacher volunteers came down to the gym floor for a relay race wherein students would place their head on a bat, spin around twenty times, sprint to the table in the middle of the gym and ‘chug’ their choice of “drinkable” food including choices like baby food and applesauce. 

“We wanted to do the relay to kind of end the pep rally on a high note,” said Fisher. And the relay most certainly brought up the student’s spirit as the racers sprinted dizzily across the floor, falling occasionally until the senior class reigned victorious. 

And finally, of course, the pep rally had to end with the traditional scream-off where each class must scream “Let’s Go Rams”, and the class with the highest scream wins the championship belt. 

While in previous years students have accused the teachers of being biased in the seniors’ favor, Macallister downloaded a decimal app on his phone so he could measure the sound in the gym and give the championship belt to the true winner. 

After each class had screamed their hearts out (and many teachers suffered temporary hearing loss), Macallister declared a tie between the juniors and seniors. Both classes screamed the cheer again, and yet again there was an exact tie!

After tying again, once more, the senior class was beginning to worry about losing their reigning title, but after each class screamed again, louder and longer than any of the previous screams, McChalicher declared the seniors the winners; cheers erupted from the stands. 

“My favorite part was probably the seniors winning the screaming competition,” said senior Sarah Kittlet, “I like it [pep rally] because everyone is really happy and spirited, and every one really comes together as a school.”

When Fisher was asked how she hoped students were impacted by pep rally she said, “I hope that pep rally gets them really excited for the game and gets everyone to come together and have pride and school spirit.”