Ever since we came back to school in person after Covid-19 the homecoming pep-rally has become an all grade event outside of school hours. Before we had to go into quarantine the homecoming pep-rallies were held during school hours at the separate campuses with the grades split up. The students would participate in an assembly schedule and the pep-rallies would do different events.

Now that all the covid regulations are gone a lot of people believe we should go back to the way the pep-rallies used to be. After speaking to students about the topic I discovered that a lot of students were unable to attend the outdoor pep-rally because of the selected time and location of the event. The most common reasons were:

• “I had work and wasn’t told about the pep-rally in advance so I couldn’t get time off”
• “I had a volleyball game that night and wasn’t able to go”
• “I didn’t have a ride”
• “I didn’t want to stand outside in the cold”
• “I had a lot of homework to do and didn’t want to go out late”

If the pep-rally were to be during the school day students wouldn’t have these conflicts and would be able to attend. On top of that students also said the pep-rally was boring and wasn’t much fun. People were frustrated with the games and the false advertising of announcing the homecoming court. Some said that the pep-rally seemed disorganized and difficult. 

On the other hand some students think the outdoor pep-rally is better. Some students believe that having the pep-rally outside of school hours made it so people who really wanted to participate would be there instead of forcing all the students to attend. They said it was more of a fun social event instead of the teachers telling you to be quiet while the MC was speaking. “Having all four grades in one pep-rally made it more fun and felt like a whole school event”, one student claimed.  Another said, “I like that it isn’t a required assembly”. 

There are a lot of mixed feelings about the homecoming pep-rally and whether it is better outside of school hours, or during the school day. While there are a lot more pros and cons to both sides, these were the main opinions I heard from Warren’s students.

Vintage footage of the 2019 Homecoming pep-rally: CLICK HERE!!!