ASB kicks off year with Back to School Rally
Thousands of new and returning students flooded into the Greek Theater on Friday, Sept. 9 to take part in the first pep rally of the school year. Each grade came wearing their designated colors for Spirit Week, and were eager to see what ASB had prepared for them. “The rally commissions began planning before school even started. I felt [that] this rally, we didn't wait until the last minute finalizing everything. [It] helped make everything run more smoothly,” ASB member Dylan Patel (’17) said. 
In the days leading up to the rally, ASB launched Spirit Week. On Tuesday, or “Captain America Day”, students came to school wearing the nation’s colors: red white and blue. On Wednesday, they wore matching outfits with their close friends for “Twin Day”, and on Thursday they wore pajamas for “Pajama Day”. The day of the rally, each class was assigned to wear a color representing a specific superhero. Freshmen wore green for the Incredible Hulk, sophomores wore red for Iron Man, Juniors wore blue for Aquaman and Seniors wore white for Captain America. “I saw a lot more people participating this year than in the past, especially at the rally,” Senior Class Secretary Sienna Brooks (’17) said.
During the rally, the audience saw performances from the Samo choir, dance routines from both the cheer team and the girls’ volleyball team and a heartfelt speech about what it means to be a superhero by Samo’s “Restorative Justice” coordinator, Robert Howard. The rally ended with ASB members randomly selecting a few individuals from each grade to take part in a group competition which involved “pie-ing” teachers and running through obstacle courses. Although ASB made an effort to captivate the audience, the attention of many students was on conversing with others and looking at their phones. However, even with the elaborate performances and complex choreographed musical acts, returning students were unimpressed with the quality and length of the rally.“I thought [the rally] was pretty good for the first rally, but there could have been more performances. I found it to be quite short,” sophomore Natalie Bay (’19) said. “I heard a rumor circulating around that the rally ended early due to baby powder usage.”
When asked about student participation, ASB was all for improving the rallies to accommodate student interests.“Getting the whole school more involved is one of the major things we want to improve on, said Patel. “Many students felt they didn't have any involvement in this rally which made them lose interest.”Some individuals were outraged with the way students acted during performances and towards other grades. “I was disappointed that the junior class started chanting their year during the National Anthem, and thought it was incredibly disrespectful to the student performers,” English teacher and department head Ms. Pust said. “I was also disappointed by the junior class' decision to boo their classmates as seniors and others chanted. Pep rallies are ultimately about coming together as a community, and while changing one's own year is in good spirit, I believe booing others weakens our community as a whole. We as a school are strongest when we show we care about something bigger than ourselves.”Although the rally’s abrupt ending left some students disappointed and unsatisfied, many were very optimistic about what ASB will have in store for future rallies. “I think the rallies will get better as the year continues.” Bay said. “Maybe ASB could add more things to throw around in the crowd like beach balls. Students seem to really enjoy that kind of stuff.”
Photographs by Nico Young
