The first pep rally of the Lancaster High School 2019-2020 school year highlighted the sophomore class as they won the competitive spirit stick competition. Another highlight at the start of the pep rally featured the new senior athletes and band members who were announced in the traditional senior strut onto the gym floor.

Although some seniors seemed bursting with pride to be introduced to the entire school body, some were more apprehensive.

“It feels weird to finally be a senior,’ said James Hewitt. “I’m kind of sad and scared of it,” he said.

Maddy Good, the Homecoming Queen and the rest of the court were announced as they were introduced to the crowd.

The pep rally line-up included some routine performances and activities in which students and staff received both positive and negative responses from students. For example, the cheerleaders performed a cheer to highlight their talents. At least one student would have liked the cheerleaders to engage the student body rather than give a performance.

“It feels like we have to sit through the performance rather than enjoying it (the action),” said Skylar Stephens, a junior.

“It can be a real killjoy at times,” he said.

However, many of the competitive activities were very effective in creating excitement among the crowd. The staff of teachers won the Oreo eating contest. Although they started off strong, the freshman class was disqualified in the toilet paper contest and, again, the staff took 1st place. Seniors won the football relay event.

One of the most popular rally activities is musical chairs which always makes the crowd cheer for their class representatives who battle for an empty chair to stay in the game.

“The Musical Chairs competition is really fun to watch because the contestants get really competitive,” said Andy Slay, a sophomore.

This time was no exception. In fact, the event of the Musical chairs quickly became heated. In the end, the juniors took away a chair from the sophomores, which left the staff against the juniors. Before the finale, a huge number of 11th-grade students rushed from the stands to the gym floor to cheer on their teammate who eventually won the event.

The final event of the pep rally was for the coveted Spirit Stick. Deputy Dixon used his audio frequency detector to prove that the sophomores cheered the loudest and won the competition. At the end of the pep rally, the Gales Revolution tally was staff-10, sophomores-7, juniors-6, seniors-5, and freshmen-0.

Gallery • 39 Photos