A sea of red flooded into the DiBart Gym as the annual spirit week pep rally commenced. Upon entering, students were greeted by the marching band, which blasted a rendition of the song Light ‘Em Up by Fall Out Boy. The cheerleaders took the stage as they performed various routines and stunts to accompany the booming music.

Following Key of She’s heartwarming performance of the Star Spangled Banner, East took to social media trends and did a school-wide version of the mannequin challenge. Students, teachers, the cheerleaders, and the marching band alike all struck a pose as the song, Black Beatles filled up the large gym.

Shortly after, Activities Director, Mr. Charles Davis introduced the homecoming representatives from each of the grades. The representatives took the stage alongside their peers who were displaying the respective class banners.

As students enthusiastically tried to catch the t-shirts being launched into the crowd by the cheerleaders, Davis took time to recognize various students. Character education students were brought to the center to be honored for their model behavior in the classroom. All-Conference athletes were likewise recognized for their outstanding achievements. Both the boys and girls cross country teams, the girls’ tennis team, as well as the girls’ volleyball team were acknowledged for their successful seasons.

Later, an intense round of tug-of-war ensued between the freshmen girls and senior girls. Needless to say, the senior girls dominated the competition. The boys were next to take the stage. The junior boys versed the senior boys in an incredibly tight round of tug-of-war. For a while, the rope stayed in place, as neither the juniors nor seniors seemed to budge. Ultimately however, the juniors were just able to pull out a win against the senior boys in the tug-of-war competition.

The real fun began with the ball-toss game. Hands shot into the air as Davis selected students to participate in the game. During the game, Davis would randomly throw a ball into the air and the selected student would have to maneuver  a trash can in such a way that the ball would fall directly into the can. Of the students who participated, those who successfully got the ball into the can were awarded a gift-card.

Davis concluded the pep rally by announcing the highly-anticipated results of this years’ spirit week. The senior class finished in first place this year. The juniors came in second place overall. Following the juniors were the freshmen. And not far from the freshmen were the sophomores, who finished in fourth place.

Sophomore student government president, Lucas Semon (’19) said, “We are disappointed to have lost to the freshmen, especially considering all the hard work put in… We also are going to try to consider this a year to recollect and reorganize ourselves, coming from a second place win freshmen year. We may have experienced a bit of a sophomore slump but I know I speak for the SGA homeroom as well as myself when I say that we are excited to come back stronger next year.”

In terms of can donations, East was able to bring more canned donations than ever before, for a grand total of 5,875 food items donated. Because East was able to reach its initial goal of 5,000 canned donations, Davis, along with a few other teachers will have to spend the night on the roof sometime next week. East Principal, Dr. Dennis Perry will also have to go on display in the marketing case in C-Wing. From spirit week, the East student body was able to raise over one thousand dollars. This money will go towards bringing cleaner water to all parts of the world.

Make sure to support East’s football team tonight at the East vs. West football game!

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