The welcome rally was on August 23, 2024, two weeks into the school year. The welcome rally was made to welcome the returning students for another great year at Pitman, but more importantly it was a rally for the incoming freshmen to get them hyped up for the start of their high school journey.
The rally took place in the gymnasium of the school and was organized by Mrs. Jeans and the Green team. For those who are not aware, the Green Team is the ASB for the entire school, meaning that Green Team President, VP, and others are considered to be the roles for the entire school. They have worked hard to provide as good of a welcome rally as possible and clearly, they have put a lot of work into it.
The start of the rally was during pride time and lasted only about 35 minutes. There were games, announcements, cheerleaders dancing, and color guard performances. All together it was a spectacular rally and had a lot of positive reviews.
A freshman, Alayah Collins-Langford was asked for her perspective, “As a freshman how did you enjoy your first rally?”
“I can say I did enjoy it, I just felt like the freshman needed more enthusiasm, because I felt like I was the only one screaming”.
She was also asked, “What was the best thing at the rally?”
“I want to say the intro when a girl came into the gym with a car. That was really funny, I think that’s what started the energy of the rally”.
Another freshman, Hayden Dhanota, was then interviewed and asked the same question, “How did you enjoy the rally?”
“I think the rally was good, I just couldn’t clearly hear the announcements”.
He was also asked, “What about the rally did you find the best and worst?”
“The best part was the games, and the worst part was getting to our seats on the bleachers”.
Amanda Esquivel, a senior who participated in the rally as a Pride Ambassador was asked, “How would you say the freshmen were this year compared to other years?”
“Definitely way louder than they have been in the past, freshmen intend to be really quiet and don’t want to participate but they were really loud and intrigued in the games”.
She was then asked, “What did you think about the games played this year at the rally?”
“I think the games were fun, they were very interactive with each other. Before we had games that people just didn’t really want to play, so thinking of games every year can be really hard, but I think people really enjoyed this year’s games”.
A teacher was also interviewed about this topic, Mr. Hatchel was asked, “How did you enjoy the rally?”
“It was fun. It was hard to see though, I had some people in front of me, and of course the sound in there is always rough”.
Mr. Hatchel was then asked, “From what you could see, what was the best part about the rally?”
“I like the games that the students and teachers play together, that’s always my favorite part”.
During the rally, there were two games played by students and staff, one game of grab the pride apple, and another game of intense floor is lava. And clearly the games were very popular with everyone and down over the hearts of most of the student body.
As a freshman myself, the games were a favorite of mine as well, but better than the games was the chanting. It was great to see my friends and I cheer as representatives of the class of 2028 and yell at the top of my lungs with no consequences.
Generally speaking, I would say that I personally loved the welcome rally along with the majority of the student body as well. It was a great way to start off the freshman’s high school career and an even better experience that would stay with the class of 2028.