The high school experience only happens once. As each big event rolls around, teachers, administration, the cheer and dance teams and other student organizations attempt to hype up the student body with the use of pep rallies. On Friday, Sept. 3 NHS was able to host their first pep rally of the year and the overall consensus was that students were really excited. 

At the pep rally, fall sports were announced and there was additionally a game hosted by the cheer team in which students from each grade level rolled underneath a table that their selected administrator was standing on, surfing to the finish line to win the game. A dance was performed from the Railiners dance team and the cheer and dance teams showcased the alma mater and fight song, a pep rally tradition. This pep rally was the very first for both the freshman and sophomore classes as they were unable to attend any in the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Overall, I really liked my first pep rally ever and it was set up really well, but I was hoping that the class of 2024 would cheer more,” sophomore Ava Claassen said. “Only one group of girls that I was sitting by in my class were super hype.”

Claassen’s favorite part of the experience were the performances by the drumline and the dance team. She hopes there will be more similar performances at pep rallies in the future. 

“I love the dance team and drumline and I feel like they got me peppy. I am just hoping the next assembly will be even more exciting,” Claassen said.

According to Teachers Change Lives, to get students excited about what they are doing or learning they can be encouraged to get involved and get creative. Sophomore Carly Anderson feels that when everyone gets involved in the pep rally it is more exciting and fun. Anderson says she loves cheering on sports and is always at games to watch and support her classmates. She feels that the recent pep rally should have been longer since announcing sports took a long time. 

“When students match mine and others’ energy I feel like the pep rally got louder and more people started cheering. The announcements took up a lot of time and we should have done more games to get the students excited,” Anderson said. 

When it comes to matching people’s energy, many classes were bonding together and having a great time. Senior Owen Mick says he was getting everyone hyped up with the traditional Do-Crew chant. He says that he truly enjoys radiating his energy and enthusiasm to everyone else in the student body. 

“I really just enjoy radiating my energy out to everyone else and just trying to hype everyone else up as much as I can,” Mick said. “The only chant we did for the first pep assembly was the ‘I believe we will win’ chant mainly just for the freshman to be able to learn the chant before the game that night.”

Overall, the main objective of pep rallies are to get the student body engaged and energized for the following sporting event that night. In order to have the best turn out in the student section as possible, students and staff encourage participation to the fullest capability. 

“At the pep rally we do chants and announcements so we can get as much of the student body out to the games as we can because win or lose, it is always fun,” Mick said.