From video game-themed dances to a staff-run Beyoncé concert, the pep rally was the culmination of Spirit Week 2024 and included many new events, competitions, and surprises. The senior class of 2024 entered the gym, accompanied by Kanye West’s “POWER” with light-up crowns on their heads to fit with their Just Dance theme. 

With the overarching motif of video games, the freshman theme was Sonic the Hedgehog, the sophomores had FIFA, and the juniors had Super Mario. By the end of Spirit Week, the seniors would once again walk away with the coveted “spirit stick”, crowned as champions.

“I think it’s just nice for each grade to work as a team to get those points that they need to stack up against all of the other grades,” vocal senior Emily McLaughlin said. “As a whole, it’s just us all coming together to do things in a competitive fashion, but also just having fun.”

The pep rally commenced with the filming of the end of the Lip Dub, followed by the reveal of the new jaguar mascot. The junior class built up a winning streak at the beginning of pep rally, winning queen’s request, musical chairs, the three-point contest, Mario Kart, and the sidewalk chalk contest back-to-back.

“I just love our class so much. We’re always hype,” vocal junior Giuliana Siquiera said. “We win every game and we’re always just happy. I think this year was a good year.”

The pep rally continued with each grade’s dance, competing for the final points of Spirit Week. The freshman class dance began with music from the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack to match their theme, but the dancers also performed to songs by Britney Spears and Ice Spice. The sophomore dance followed suit with Shakira and Kendrick Lamar music and cameos from dance teacher Garry Q. Lewis as a referee with a money gun and digital media teacher Nicolas Angulo kicking a game-winning goal. The junior dance integrated Super Mario songs with songs such as “Hot in Herre” by Nelly. The student dances concluded with the seniors performing to songs such as “Rasputin” and “Black and Yellow”, interspersed with Just Dance sound effects and a cameo from Assistant Principal Billy Clark with a Wiimote.

“Every dance we do, we just give it our all,” Siquiera said. “Not because we want to win or anything, just because we want to have fun with our class.”

As a grand finale, teachers and staff had their own dance, surprising students with a setlist of Beyoncé songs. During “Run the World (Girls)”, however, a technical issue occurred due to high volume settings that blew a fuse on the speaker system. This caused a delay in the middle of the performance as staff attempted to fix the speakers, but students stepped in to fill the gap with an a capella rendition of the end of the song, chants, and an informal flip contest across the gym floor. The speakers were fixed, resuming the Beyoncé concert with Principal Blake Bennett’s entrance on a makeshift silver horse, donning a glittery jumpsuit to perform “Break My Soul”.

“(The Beyoncé performance) was so good, I cannot,” McLaughlin said. “I have like the whole thing on video, and I’m so happy for all of SGA and the teachers and everything.”

The pep rally concluded with Ms. Bennett’s announcement that the seniors won Spirit Week, with the majority of their points coming from wins throughout the week (not just the pep rally).The scores for each class will be announced in the days to come. As the class of 2024 celebrated their win, their Just Dance-themed crowns became appropriate, bringing Spirit Week 2024 to a close after a week of activities, costumes, and school spirit.

“The other pep rallies I’ve seen and I’ve been to at my old school do not compare to this at all,” communications freshman Giselle Fernandez-Perez said. “I feel like this is just such a large scale thing that we have here, and I’ve never seen anything like it before.”