Caption: The senior class sits together during the pep rally and cheers on their class members as they volunteer to participate in the game activities. [by Dr. Cristina Meier]
by Arthur Lobato w/ Oliver Hsieh
On Friday, October 24, the cheerleaders led the high school students in a pep rally to help encourage the athletes, promote school spirit and to pray for our Warrior Basketball and Soccer teams that were set to participate in the AASB Varsity Nationals tournament the following week.
The event was held in the PACA gymnasium during the last class period of the day. As traditionally done each year, the high school students were given permission to skip their normal eighth period elective class to attend this event instead. The high school STUCO officers organized the Spirit Week activities that led up to Friday. However, the cheerleaders organized the entire Pep Rally event.
Video Production by Oliver Hsieh
They started off the pep rally with a new cheer called “Do It,” in which representatives from their respective grades performed signature motions when they were called out by grade. The moves inspired their classmates to dance with them from the stands.
This was followed by an invitation for all the students heading to NR to come down from the bleachers for a time of prayer. Mr Jannie Le Roux, the school principal, came down to the gym floor, as well, so that he could pray for all of them.
With everyone gathered, Mr. LeRoux provided a quick prayer over all the athletes participating in the Varsity Soccer, Basketball and Cheerleading competitions.
“May they enter this competition with a spirit of sportsmanship,” said LeRoux. “And with respect for the members of the other high school teams. We ask you, O Lord, to bless each and every one of them.”
After the time of prayer, the cheerleaders once again challenged the crowd to follow them in an interactive cheer. The group was asked to follow the cheerleaders in doing a stadium wave. Once the class competitions began, the cheerleaders called for each grade to provide two girls and two boy volunteers for a cheerleading challenge. The groups were asked to simulate a common cheer stunt. There was some scrambling as the boys learned how to be firm anchors for one of the girls to stand on their legs.
This was followed by a new request for one boy from each grade which brought Philip Emmanuel (G12), Levi Penha (G9), Samuel Volkart (G10) and Enzo Viccari (G11) down to the gym floor to participate in a push up challenge. Once the timer started, it was clear who was going to win. Freshman Penha was able to do 46 pushups in the allotted time.
“I felt proud of representing my class,” said Penha.
Another group of three students from each grade was called to participate in the next game. Before it began, it was hinted that the game involved shooting baskets. After the volunteers came forward, the cheerleaders prepared themselves by mounting each other’s shoulders. In this way, they built a two-person pyramid for each high school grade. The cheerleader on top formed a hoop with her hands and the participating students were each given a pom-pom and told to use it to shoot “a basket” through the arms of the cheerleader’s rounded arms.
Once the timer began, each group of The winners were the sophomores, with Benjamin Oliveira, Lucas Steinberg and Rebecca Pavanelo, as they were able to make the most “baskets” in the time given.
The final game of the event was a challenge in following directions as two representatives from each class sat across the gym floor facing someone from the other class. They were asked to follow cheerleader Eva Castro’s commands as she asked them to either clap, do the “broken T” or the “goal post” pose. As these commands were given, she would stop and say the word “pom” signaling for each set of students to reach for the cheerleading pom-pom between them. The person who grabbed it first would win that round.
This game continued until all the students were out except for Senior Leonardo Tamashiro and Freshman Haram Yim. In the end, Tamashiro was just a fraction of a second faster than Yim. The pep rally ended on this high note and the scores for each grade were announced.
The cheerleaders spent a lot of time preparing for this event. Sophomore Sophia Lima explained how the girls chose the games that the students played during the pep rally.
“We searched up games on Pinterest or TikTok to see what would be fun for our school to do,” said Lima.
For students attending the pep rally, it was a time of encouragement knowing that so many were cheering for them whether from school or at the NR sports camp location.
“It made me more comfortable to know the support all athletes received from the school,” said Machado, “It made me more comfortable to perform on the field and on the court.”
