Sophomores sing class anthem during sing-o-meter contest
On Feb. 23, Leadership held Aragon’s annual indoor winter rally of the year in the North Gym.
“There’s a lot of fun and pride in representing [your class],” said Leadership adviser Heather Stretch. “It’s [also] a great way for us to highlight lots of different groups. Whether they are athletes or performers, they get a chance to sign up and come out and represent the school.”
Leadership’s Rally Commision comes up with ideas for the event, including the many activities and decorations at rallies.
“We brainstorm everything ourselves, create a plan of each rally and then send it to Ms. Stretch, who looks over it,” said Rally Commission Co-Head Chin-Yi Kong. “If she A-OK’s everything, [we] send it over to administration [for] feedback. Once we get approval, then we can actually start finding participants and reaching out to people.”
This preparation begins months in advance, as Leadership must go through current inventory, order supplies and get approval from school administration. On the day of the rally, they start decorating the gym as early as 8:30 a.m.
As students entered the gym for the rally, they were greeted by Aragon cheerleaders and enthusiastic pop music. The energy continued as the rally kicked off with a performance from the cheer team. Then the class mascots came out – freshman’s green dinosaur, sophomores’ pink shark and juniors’ and seniors’ respective blue and purple inflatables – amid cheers from their respective classes.
Soon after, the dance team stepped out from their positions in the bleachers, and began their performance in the center of the gym.
“It took us about two months to really get an idea of how we were going to do this routine and choreography,” said dance team coach Isabella MatalSol.
“The [dancers] have to go home and practice on their own, but they really are devoted and they’re passionate about what they do and it shows out there when they perform.”
Isabella MatalSol
Then, the Hamster Ball Bombastic Battle began. Freshmen were put against sophomores, and juniors against seniors in the sumo-like competition, where class representatives attempted to push each other out of a circle on the gym floor while inside of an inflatable ball.
The freshman lost to sophomores in both rounds, while seniors won their first round, but tied in the second round with the juniors. Due to this, the hamster ball game ended early, and the parameters for the game may be reworked for the future.
The girls and boys basketball teams went to the gym floor for a dance performance that was followed by the Super-Sized Soccer game, which counselor Javier Magaña took part in. The game was tough for both students and teachers, but it kept the energy up. After ending in a tie, the game went to penalty kicks, where the teachers won 2-1.
“It was fun just playing [and] doing something that’s not work related with my colleagues and being a little competitive with the kids in a different way,” Magaña said.
Afterwards, the class anthem competition began. Leadership students brought out the newly created Sing-O-Meter to judge how loud and spirited students could get. Freshmen started slow as they sang OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars,” but juniors and seniors were able to bring up the energy, singing “Baby” by Justin Bieber and “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott. Ultimately, sophomores won the competition, singing Keyshia Cole’s “Love,” while waving a pink Ice Spice flag, a twist to the usual win for the seniors.
“I do think that many times the rally has been awarded to the seniors when other classes should’ve won,” said sophomore Charlie Harger.
“The sophomores did really well. We showed a lot of spirit and I think it was a well-deserved win.”
Charlie Harger
The high energy sustained until the end of the 45-minute rally, before students went to lunch, but Leadership’s cleanup had just begun. Their hard work and dedication is what allows students to enjoy these energetic rallies, which will return for the annual spring rally.
