Students slowly start to pile into the stadiums with their black and gold the day of the pep rally. The school mascot jumps around, hyping up the crowd and encouraging the students to cheer. This year, students were not restricted to sitting with their class but could go wherever they wanted in the stadium. The marching band plays in the background adding to the energy of the rally before it has even begun.

“Our pep rallies get better and better every year,” Danielle Morris, the student council sponsor, said. “We did some of the same activities, but students wanted to participate in them and enjoyed them.”

There were several games planned for the pep rally including tug of war, dance battles, and musical chairs. Danae Carey, junior, knew she was going to end people’s careers when participating in the game of musical chairs. 

“The chair placement wasn’t the best,” Carey said. “But overall it was alright, I had fun.”

Hosting the rally were co-hosts Tori Wilson, junior, and Aliyah Goodman, senior. They amped up the students in the stadiums and ran all the game events. 

“It was stressful to get everyone to listen, it was fun, but real stressful” Tori said. “My favorite part was announcing the Homecoming winners.”

Another major part of the event was the debut of the lion mascot after many years. The lion mascot’s identity is anonymous. 

“Getting to see the excitement of alumni, younger kids, and even our students was really rewarding,” the lion said.” I loved taking pictures with all the kids and alumni. It’s always so much fun seeing the community that is so strong and prevalent in U. City, and it was nice getting to kind of observe that.”

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Alara Stewart