The first community pep rally of the season was held yesterday at the football stadium.
“It’s [the pep rally] definitely different, but I’m happy we had a pep rally,” senior Audrey Hightower said. “It was super cold and chilly, but we pushed through and did great.”
The pep rally was outside because of COVID-19. The seating arrangement was socially distanced, and masks were required for all attendees.
“I thought it went well,” Director of Fine Arts Dr. Fela Mathy said. “I noticed people had their face coverings. I think for the most part it was relatively socially distanced because it was outside. I felt like that certainly makes it more safe. Outside of the fact that it was freezing cold, I think it’s the best we can do in the time that we’re in, but I really enjoyed it being outside. I liked the change.”
During the pep rally, spirit awards and homecoming court positions were announced, excluding Homecoming King and Queen. Freshman Lord and Lady are Kyle Branch and Finley Abernathy. Sophomore Duke and Duchess are Trenton Gant and Brianna Siddall. Junior Prince and Princess are Riley McGowan and Addison Wimbish. Other awards, such as Most Athletic Student and Mr. and Mrs.Graduate Profiles were also announced.
“Getting on court was really exciting and unexpected mainly because I didn’t try to campaign or anything, but it felt really great to be able to tell my family that I won,” Wimbish said.
The theme this year was ‘Haunted Hoco’ because of the pep rally’s proximity to Halloween and to the homecoming football game.
“I liked the pep rally this year,” Hightower said. “It matched Halloween, and it was super cool.”
There were performances throughout the pep rally by the band, cheerleaders, color guard and Majestics. The cheerleaders did a halloween themed performance to the song of “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max.
“I absolutely loved it,” Mathy said. “We haven’t had the opportunity to see our kids perform at pep rallies this year or have that type of comradery as a school district yet, so it gives me a lot of joy to have our band out, our cheerleaders doing their thing; Majestics, color guard [too]. I just thought it was really wonderful for those students to have the opportunity to do what they do.”
The king and queen will be announced this Friday at half-time of the homecoming game. This year there will also be a fireworks show post-game, which is funded by community sponsors.
“I’m super excited [for this year’s game],” Hightower said. “The homecoming court is super cool. They’re all great people. We should win. Our team is on a winning streak this year.”
