Rally Reactions at Hillgrove By: Maylene Michel

Students across the country get excited to enter high school for many reasons, but there’s one popular one — pep rallies. While formally described by Merriam Webster as "an event before a school sports event that is meant to get students and fans excited and to encourage the team to win," most students utilize them as a chance to recuperate from the pressures of school and have fun. Hillgrove is a high school that does pep rallies right. A sophomore at Hillgrove, Sabrina Bontempi, expresses, "it's just a time for everyone to have fun and take a break… from academics and be together." Most students at Hillgrove will agree on this fact but would also proclaim that there is so much more. 

Hillgrove's most recent pep rally, which fell on November 22, 2024, celebrated another football game. While many students plan to attend the game, a considerable number anticipates the game's pep rally more. Students, faculty, student government, and student athletes, including cheerleaders, are all significant components of these energetic rallies. Hannah Humphries shares her thoughts as a sophomore student athlete: " I just feel like it's great because I don’t have to be in class and it's a community thing, we can vibe together. It's just school spirit.” Similarly, Ansley Hackney is a second-year student on the school's student government, and she sees pep rallies as "…everyone in the spirit for the event we're celebrating for. It's a really fun communal thing. It just brings everyone together." However, there’s more to them than a sense of community and family.

While students’ views tend to be socially oriented, there is always an air of competition at rallies at Hillgrove and pep rallies nationwide — competition between the classes. Ansley Hackney relays this exemplarily: “…the juniors right now. They always bring it. They're our main competition… And I'm not going to lie, those freshmen? They were louder than we were last year, but they got some mean competition with [us] sophomores.” 

No matter what role you play in a pep rally, be that student, student government, or student athlete, you’ll always feel the spirit at Hillgrove. Hannah Humphries’ exuberance goes so far as to make her wish pep rallies were and “hour [and] thirty minutes… to do all your games, and then the band, and then other games like dodgeball.” But for those who tend to steer clear of events like these, Sabrina Bontempi advises “tak[ing] it more lightheartedly. It'd be one thing if you want to study in class or you feel like you're missing academic things, but …you’re not going to be high school forever, so have fun at those things with your class and just experience it while you can.” Pep rallies bring out the unavoidable school spirit in every student!