By Aditya Rajpurohit and Sushant Kunwar
Branford High School held its first pep rally in over one and a half years last month. Various fall sports teams took to the football field to introduce themselves and encourage members of the BHS community to show their support in upcoming games.
“As a community, our BHS students have overcome a variety of obstacles in the past year and a half,” said Athletic Director Thomas Ermini. “My hope is that the pep rally will offer an opportunity for students to celebrate all the school spirit and excitement we have for the new school year.”
Ermini states that his goal in this pep rally was to rebuild school spirit and the sense of community that characterizes BHS, while also encouraging participation in sports and extracurricular activities. The pep rally was held Friday, Oct. 22 outside on the turf field. The last time students and faculty gathered at BHS for a pep rally was in December 2019.
The energy of the pep rally typically comes from the skits or games each athletic team performs after they are introduced. In past years, the skits have caused controversy casuing the administration to cancel the pep rally.
There are varied views within the student body on this year’s Pep Rally. Justin Pham, a freshman, said he greatly enjoyed his first BHS pep rally. “It encouraged me to join. I’m not sure which sports, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Nick Schettino, Nayelie Torres Colon, Allie Bietz, and Greta Blaskovich––juniors who had only been able to attend one pep rally before the pandemic––thought that the student body showed considerably less spirit than in previous years. However, they did like the shift to an outdoor event as they could get some fresh air.
They also pointed out that there was more separation between the classes than usual because the underclassmen had to sit on the grass while the upperclassmen sat in the stands. In previous years, all of the classes would be sitting in designated bleachers inside the new gym or along the floor in the commons.
Pham agrees, commenting that he enjoyed the outdoor setting, but would’ve preferred to sit on the bleachers with the upperclassmen.
Schettino noted that he would have enjoyed it more if the pep rally had included support for other activities outside of the realm of sports. “I’m not really a sports guy,” he said. “I would’ve liked to hear more about new clubs that I could join.” The others expressed similar sentiments.
“I liked how the classes were separated to maintain COVID rules, but I think it’d be better inside because of the cold and the bees,” said senior Ashlisa Lama. “Personally, I didn’t feel motivated to join any activities by the pep rally, but maybe the freshmen and sophomores, who didn’t know about some of the sports and clubs, could’ve been inspired to join organizations like the unified club.”
“The people loved it,” said Andrew Bono, drum major for the marching band this year. “They cheered us on and really got into the music. The pep rally helped get our band out there.We wanted to showcase all the hard work we’ve been putting over the last 2 months and show a part of our field show.”
Ermini said his goals with this pep rally were a success, with a lot to look forward to in the future.
