After 18 months of isolation, the community came together again for the school’s annual pep rally. The pep rally is a gathering to take a break from work, celebrate the community, and to get ready for all things Homecoming. It was cancelled last year due to the Covid pandemic, but this year it was more exciting than ever.

The pep rally opened up with a Hollywood-themed marching band performance.

The rally also recognized fall sports teams. Golf, volleyball, field hockey, unified tennis, football, and soccer all took a stand while students cheered for them.

The next segment of the pep rally was introduced with an upbeat performance from the Poms team, followed by the Varsity Cheer performance. The energetic dance and music got the crowd pumped.

To take a small commercial break from the performances, Mr. Jeremy Brown, SGA Advisor,  steered the crowd towards a fun game for extra spirit points, in which each class had two class members kick a field goal. Only one person was able to complete this challenge. Kenny Bradley, a sophomore, had the crowd going wild when he kicked the football perfectly through the middle of the field goal.

¨I’ve never kicked a football in my life,” said Bradley. “It was a really good kick.¨

The next game, which took place on the track, consisted of a competition where four teams of two students worked to unravel frozen class pride t-shirts and put them on before the other teams. Class of 2024 representatives Ava Taylor and Ethan Arneson took home the spirit points.

Next, Brown announced the homecoming court as those who were mentioned walked across the field. Aaliyah Covey and Noah Orndorff represented Class of 2025, Grace Booth and Ty Easterday were the 2024 court, Class of 2023 Molly Granger and Brady Vlha represented, and Aubrey Beale, Connor Cunnane, Owen Drenner, Brayden Gregory, Emily Jonas, Kerrin Kelsey, Jack McCoy, Joshua Parker, Claire Thomas, and Lindsay Toothaker walked as the Class of 2022 homecoming court.

The most exciting part of the rally was the reveal of the spirit stick winners. The spirit stick is a colorful staff awarded to the class that had the highest participation in school spirit throughout week leading up to homecoming. This year’s winner was no surprise: the Class of 2022 took the staff home with their overwhelming spirit from the previous week of spirit-wear challenges.

After a long year with little interaction, the celebration in the stadium this year flooded the environment with school spirit. Students were able to enjoy a normal high school experience, and in a sense, it felt like being home again.