![Junior Diya Arun stares out a window. For Arun, the winter season brings out the holiday blues. “ I think [the winter] has a negative effect on my mental health because I feel like the cold weather and people around me are also sadder [and] that affects me,” Arun said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_8047-1200x800.jpg)
![The Phoenix varsity volleyball team lines up for the national anthem. “We were more communicative [with each other] during this game, and I feel like we kept our energy up, especially after the first set,” senior Jessica Valdov said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_0202-1200x800.jpg)
As with every school year, school doesn’t truly begin until the first pep rally of the year occurs. The first full week of school kicked off with a spirit week starting Aug. 26 and ending on Aug. 29, with the first pep rally.
Before the 2024-2025 school year, the biggest issues with the pep rallies were that they were always planned out at the end of the school day when underclassmen were tired from their daily classes and many seniors didn’t stick around due to early dismissal.
This year, however, principal John Duellman decided to move it up to the morning. “The lunches had to change this year to go to three lunch shifts,” Duellman said. “So that would have made pep rallies [happen] later [in advisory].”
While pep rallies will now be held in the morning, this new schedule created a widespread impact on school spirit. Duellman wanted to show how important and powerful school spirit can be to the student body. “It’s actually a great lesson for students to learn about school spirit and so it’s nice that this year the seniors are all here because we are doing the pep rallies in the morning and we are really seeing the senior spirit,” Duellman said.
At the pep rally, students were introduced to the senior class; the class officers who led the way throughout the pep rally; and the fall sport athletes, including football, track, cheer, golf, volleyball, and crew. The cheerleaders performed a routine to get the pep rally started once all fall sports had been introduced.
The pep rally also included the famous staff musical chairs, in which choral teacher Jordan Markwood took the crown. “I’m very competitive and I did not think I was going to win,” Markwood said. “But the most important thing was to have fun and maintain positive relationships with my peers.”
Along with the staff games, the class officers competed in the Tropical Relay. The relay included SCA officers from each grade, along with four freshmen interested in officer positions, as the freshman class had yet to have officers elected. With every participant racing from one end of the gym to another, the senior class ultimately won.
SCA members were proud of how the pep rally resulted after putting in the work to set it up. SCA’s executive communications officer senior Lily Bridges found the pep rally to be a success despite the new changes. “The energy was really great,” Bridges said. “It was better than a lot of years that we’ve had previously. I think the crowd really handled all the games, all the chants really well, and they actually participated rather than just standing around. I think it’s gonna get better from now to the end of the year.”
