Grass skirts. Leis thrown everywhere. Music blasting on the speakers. Banners hanging off the walls. This was the scene students saw while walking towards the cafeteria on Friday, August 26th, 2022. The first lunch pep rally of the year, a perfect way to start off Seminole High School’s first home football game of the season. The theme of the pep rally was aloha football and the students came prepared to celebrate and cheer on the football team before their big game later that day against Riverview. 

Dressed in floral shirts, leis, and grass skirts, students all over campus were excited to start the year off with what Seminole does best, football. Seminole High School’s Leadership team passed out leis and popsicles during lunch to get everyone pumped for the game. In the middle of the courtyard, students gathered with music blasting from speakers and everyone dancing their hearts out. 

Claudia Hernandez-Cruz, an IB sophomore, got to experience her first real pep rally on main campus this Friday, just as all the other sophomores this year. She said her first pep rally on main campus was “crazy” and she felt like she was “in a mosh pit”. But the best part of it all- the drum line. Hernandez-Cruz  said she “loved the drum line” and the “crazy beats” they played. Hernandez-Cruz emphasized on the difference between the two campuses. Sophomores said that they could feel the ground shaking, something which was not felt at the Ninth Grade Campus. The energy on the main campus was elite. 

Mahek Bandali, a Traditional junior at Seminole, said she especially loved “how hyped up it [was] and the band was amazing”. She continued saying “the pep rally was really fun” and she was ready to support Seminole High School on the stands later that day and she did as she stood in the student section cheering alongside everyone else as the boys led Bokey to victory. 

Not only was the pep rally fun for students to participate in, it also brought the students together and made Seminole High united. The game is a way to connect both campuses, and having separate pep rallies allows the student to safely mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare for the game that evening. Everyone looks forward to pep rallies, as they lose their voices but raise their energy in preparation for the victory that is to come. Pep rallies, just like the one on Friday, strengthen the bonds of the students on campus, making the campus better and the students closer than ever. 

Another student, who wishes to remain anonymous, says they “loved how the pep rally brought” everyone on campus together and the energy it created for the game later on. They continued on saying how the cheers for the upcoming Seminole High School game really got everyone looking forward to being able to support the team at night. It looks like the positive energy at the pep rally worked! Seminole High School won the game against Riverview by a landslide, the score ending up in 48-0.