Competing for the spirit stick

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To end spirit week and get students excited for the homecoming football game, Independence held their first pep rally of the school year.

The pep rally came together through lots of planning from the SCA. Senior Maddy Arroyo commented on what it takes by saying, “the pep rally itself had two different committees. One committee was for planning and making sure the games ran smoothly, and this committee also worked on the soundtrack. The second committee wrote the script for the MC’s to read. We also had three early morning pep rally rehearsals and bleacher decorations the morning of it.”

To start the pep rally off strong, the state champion cheerleading team performed. 

A fan favorite, for students and staff to participate in, is musical chairs. This was definitely the most competitive year thus far. It started when Mr. Gabriel ran away with a chair to claim it as his own, and then a chain effect of others running way with chairs and fighting over them occurred. 

After the 2021-2022 school year, the Indy K-Pop Group (IKPG) won the talent show. After their win and lively performance, IKPG have been a staple in pep rallies. 

Another reason to have pep rallies is to celebrate all fall sports. Every fall sport is announced by an MC and enters the gym where students and staff cheer them on. 

To get every student involved, during spirit week, different classes will compete against each other for the spirit stick. The juniors won the hallway decoration contest with a sci-fi theme, and the freshman won the rock painting competition with a western theme painting. Learn more about the rocks/hallways and spirit week. 

The overall winter of the homecoming pep rally was the junior class. Junior Campbell Murphy says, “We definitely tried our best to win the spirit stick and beat the seniors, and to do that we made sure we were always cheering really loud. I was surprised that the juniors won though because normally the seniors take the win. I guess that proves it’s not rigged and the seniors don’t win everything.”

Due to the seniors losing their last ever homecoming pep rally, many students were shocked and upset. Senior Chloe Marion expresses her thoughts by saying, “I felt very sad about that. I feel like it really was just unexpected from everyone. Having the freshman win the rock and then the juniors winning the hallway really threw us off. I don’t even think not winning the spirit stick was the worst part because we kind of knew we weren’t going to get it. I think it was the fact that we didn’t even win anything. But we know what to do now for the next pep rally, and this is the last time this is going to happen.”