The Spring Pep Rally was held on Friday, February 20th. It was held after the Gator Day activities. Many people chose to leave for the pep rally, but those who went had a great time. Instead of it being mainly focused on sports team introductions and walk-outs, there were musical and artistic performances from different groups like the Green Level Dance Team, the K-Pop dance club, Chorus, Green Level South East Asian Classical Dance Club, the National Art Honor Society, Honors Dance Class, and the Suessical actors. 

The K-Pop dance club was a crowd favorite. Everyone loved their upbeat energy and fierce dance moves. Junior, Alex Yang, was one of the dancers. 

“It was honestly really nice, because at our own performances that our students lead outside of school, we usually don’t get that big of an audience. Having the pep rally where there’s a huge audience, it just felt so rewarding in a way because we finally were able to actually perform here in front of a huge audience at school with people that we really know.” Yang said.

The K-Pop Dance Club is such a special club that wants to bring people together, so getting representation at the Pep Rally was really important to them. 

The National Art Honor Society showed some of their paintings, and it was a great way to give representation to their amazing artwork. The Secretary is Junior Petra Morris. She’s hoping to be President next year. 

Morris said, “It was cool to be alongside my other members and show off our hard work.”  

No one knew how amazing the Green Level Chorus was until this Pep Rally. When they performed “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston, there was a complete shift in the mood of the audience. Everyone was so much more engaged and excited. Co-captain Jedi Ramos is a Junior who has been in Chorus every semester since his Freshman year. 

Ramos said, “Singing with a group of guys is really fun and showing off that fun to everyone else, that really defined our experience.” 

When Mr. Connett talked about all of the different places they have performed and the awards they have won, it opened up the eyes of the audience to see what an amazing Choir we have been missing out on. 

Both the Dance Team and the Honors Dance Class performed in this Pep Rally. It was the Dance Team’s last performance of the year, marking the end of a great season. The Honors Dance Class performed their own choreography.

Junior, Tarita Vakada said, “The whole point of honors is we make our own choreography to represent different styles of dance, and everyone puts whatever they have from their side, and see how it goes.” 

Performing on such a big stage, like a Pep Rally, is nerve-racking, especially since they hadn’t performed in their Honors Concert yet. 

“I didn’t expect so many people to be there. It was nice seeing everyone represented, and it was just really exhilarating,” said Vakada.

They did a great job and even made their own costumes. Make sure to go see them in the Honors Dance Concert, it’s on February 27th starting at 7:00 PM. It’s a cashless event, go support them and their hard work. 

Teachers also had raffle tickets to give to students they saw dressed up in their classes or even in the hallways. During the pep rally, the raffle tickets were drawn. Some of the prizes included a free absence, a free tardy, 2 free prom tickets, a Green Level light, gator gear, and a variety of gift cards. Only students who attended the pep rally were eligible to win, so those who left didn’t have a chance to win anything. 

Dance Team member, junior Mackenzie Sanders, won a free tardy pass. This means that she can be tardy for a class and it won’t count towards her exam exemption tardies. 

Sanders said, “I wasn’t expecting it, but I did have a lot of raffle tickets.” 

At the very end of the pep rally, a student vs. staff competition called Song Association took place. A word would be said, and the students or staff members would have to run to the microphone and sing at least three lines from the song. The members won 3-1. The teachers used the songs “You used to call me on your cell phone,” “Party in the USA,” and “Say my Name.” The students used “Talking to the Moon.” This activity provided great entertainment for the audience. 

Junior, Leonie Justus, participated even though she didn’t sign up. She’s the Junior class Vice President, so when she saw that it was 3 teachers versus 2 students, she knew that she had to help. Her favorite part was when they all started running and singing together or the part when Anthony took the microphone without knowing the song part. 

Senior Anthony Panford was another participant. Both Jutus and Panford thought this was one of the best pep rallies yet.

“I embarrassed myself in front of everybody, but it was still very fun,” Panford said. “Even though not everybody came through, I felt like the people who performed were really good. The people singing “Beautiful Girls” were amazing!” 

This pep rally was also so successful because of the spirit week competition. Each day, second-period teachers had to tally the students from each grade level in their class who dressed up. The Junior class ended up winning, so they earned a donut party on Tuesday, the 24th.

This was considered to be the best Pep Rally yet because of the representation for the Fine Arts, like chorus, theater, and dance. Before, Pep Rallies were mostly centered around the athletes who had to walk out and sit on the floor for the whole Pep Rally. 

Vakada said, “I feel like we were more engaged than the other Pep Rallies.” 

This was a common feeling among the participants, Morris said, “I loved seeing the other art groups like the choir and Seussical people. I thought it was great to be focused not just on athletics but everything else our school has to offer.” 

All in all, this was an amazing Pep Rally that was much more engaging than previous years. Compared to the Fall Pep Rally, everyone loved the Arts aspect and the competition side. Make sure to stay at school and contribute to the school spirit at the Fall one.