The bell rings, signaling that second period has ended, and a tidal wave of students walk to the gym, prepared for the upcoming rally.
Some are excited, ready to show their school spirit, while others are less enthusiastic, having homework to finish or other “social-emotional” activities to do. They don’t have an option to not go, however, because despite rallies only being “highly recommended,” many teachers make sure to herd the students directly to the gym after the bell rings and also close their classrooms.
This pressure from staff to go to rallies already makes the idea of going less appealing, but perhaps if ASB and the administration can find ways to make rallies more engaging and more relevant to all, more people will want to go willingly and participate instead of cutting.
Rallies exist to promote school spirit, and many enjoy the games and events that are being held. Currently, though, the rallies just are not very interesting to a significant segment of students.
How could the rally commission solve this problem? Instead of limiting the rally events to accommodate just a few organizations such as the cheer or dance team, a wider variety of activities in this school should be represented. I’m thinking of the robotics team or the marching band, activities that are not normally on display during the school day unless you’re a part of them. If they’re featured in rallies for even 5 or 10 minutes, they will be able to show off all the cool things that they’ve been doing.
Other possibilities include the drama students putting on brief scenes or even the soccer team playing mini scrimmages, perhaps against staff members, to add in a bit of hilarity. Rallies should be innovative and unexpected and try to accommodate what students want to see, rather than just generic, ritualistic exercises of games and chants that all rallies have become.
Rallies are a chance for the whole school to get together and show their spirit, but right now only a few parts of the school are being represented. Having a wider variety of activities means that there will also be a higher chance rallies will catch someone’s attention, and students will want to participate and see their own activity represented. Having new events at each rally will also garner more interest.
Students should be able to suggest ideas to the ASB for new rally ideas that would make them want to go, and by the school taking into account these suggestions, more students, even reluctant ones, will be more likely to want to find their places in the bleachers.
