The FHS Fall Pep Rally

Written by Jaelyn Sanchez & Marilyn Ortiz

On October 3rd, the fall Pep Rally took place in the FHS Gymnasium. Kids from the cheer team, marching band, JROTC, & students who volunteered were all part of it. The Cheer team cheered for the school, the Drumline came out and performed, & JROTC sang the Pledge of Allegiance. Even though it took a lot of courage and a lot of practice to go up there, their performances brought a lot of school spirit. Each sports team came out together, tossing t-shirts into the crowd. Although it was fun, some students from all grades say it ended sooner than they expected.

Pictured Above: The FHS football team crowding in the center of the gym.

        Pep rallies are a long-time tradition in American schools, including Franklin High School. They are meant to get students excited, support their teams, and build school spirit. It's often said that when students take part in pep rallies, they feel more connected to their school and are more likely to join other activities. Pep rallies can help students enjoy school more. It's important since other schools lack school spirit. At Franklin High School, students shared their favorite parts of the pep rally, many of which just showed the excitement and engagement they had throughout the pep rally. 

       This year, the Franklin High School pep rally was a little different, but it was still fun and exciting. The gym was filled with loud cheers and bright posters as the sports team, cheer teams, and dance team came out. The cheerleaders performed a loud and energetic routine that got everyone hyped up, and the dancers also performed a fun dance that caught the crowd's attention. The football, soccer, volleyball, tennis, and cross country teams each came out in their own groups, tossing shirts into the crowd while students jumped and reached out to catch them. The Franklin High School Warriors definitely showed off their school spirit this year!

  Not only did the Franklin sports team show out, but so did the JROTC & Band; they both came out with so much enthusiasm! The band played first, and their performance got the crowd excited for a few minutes before the JROTC team did their performance. The JROTC team asked everyone to stand for the National Anthem, and the lead singer, Elimary Mendoza, sang so well that it left the crowd cheering and ready for the activities. Although there weren't many activities for our students to volunteer in, it was still really fun. The first activity was tug of war; kids got picked from the crowd, and they came down excited and ready to win! The second activity was the Dance Battle, which was full of good energy. The kids were cheering, laughing, and just having a good time. Overall, the activities and performances were really over the top, and everyone had fun.

We asked Josslyn Sejeck, a student in the 12th grade who attended and helped out, what she enjoyed the most, and she said, “I enjoyed helping out with the pep rally and how it brought the whole school together. It was very exciting, and I liked how much school spirit was brought into it.” 

The next student that was interviewed was Uriel Aguirre, an 11th grader, who we asked, “What did you think about the pep rally overall & what would you rate it?” He said that “[he] enjoyed watching the pep rally because [he] was excited for it” and “overall [he] liked it and would rate it a 7/10.” 

We also interviewed a 10th grader named Audrey Cheung, a cheerleader who attended and performed. We asked her what emotions she went through while performing, and she said, “I felt a bit nervous, but after seeing how excited and supportive the crowd was, I felt more confident.” 

Lastly, we interviewed Zoran Kelliehan, also known as Zoe. We asked her what part of the pep rally she enjoyed the most, and she replied, “My favorite part was when the cheerleaders came out because most of my friends are on the cheer team and also because they did really well.” She also added, “I would rate it an 8/10 because it was fun and exciting.” 

The FHS student Body had so much fun and liked the pep rally. This shows why having fun activities like this in schools is so important.