Earlier this morning, the sun arose to a new dawn for the Class of 2025. With that, the hype for the pep rally followed. This was the second Pep Rally hosted in the gym since 2019; an event like this required multiple school clubs and the rest of the school community acting with unity.
The event was organized by The Blue and White Society, whose advisors, French teacher Jennifer Shahin and English teacher Kate Bartlett, were very proud of the work the organization put in to making this event happen.
The event was hosted by the Class of 2025’s Gelinia Smith and Safitayoh Jalloh, with the help of the golden voice announcer, David Fazzini, the instructional support teacher.
People were already pepped up even before the rally, like junior Natalie Rosas, who said, “I’m excited, I think it’s going to be fun. Go Birds!”
The rally started with our JROTC, who marched down the court with flags and display rifles. In the middle of the march, our angelic choir caroled the national anthem before the JROTC marched back to their beginning position.
After the beginning ceremony, the cheerleaders ran out with school spirit and their blue & white pom poms, cheering phrases like “Victory tonight!” and “Eagles! Who’s the best!”
Then it was time for the much-beloved game, Hungry Hippos.
“I am so very excited for hungry hippos,” said junior Zoe Alvarado.
The rules of hungry hippos are simple: one person lays on a scooter while another pushes them. The players use a basket to collect balls that are in the center of the court before going back to their station to put the balls in a different basket to be counted. There were two rounds of hungry hippos, and of those two rounds, the juniors won the competition.
Once the hungry hippos game was finished, the Sabor Latino team danced away on the court to popular Latin artists like Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee.
Teachers and students of all grades competed in different relay races, which featured popular games like Balloon Head Rally, Backseat Driver, Floor is Lava Hula Hoop Crossing, Dizzy Basket Ball. The Dizzy Basket Ball relay race was a bit of a comedic scene, as we had highly confident teachers poorly missing their shots. Those who finally scored their shot in the hoops had the crowd cheering.
After the funny scenes of the relay race, the marching band came booming, along with the color guard, who twirled their flags to the beat of the music.
When it came to sports, the whole room was hyped up. The cheerleaders threw up their pompoms and got into two lines, cheering on the senior athletes. The athletes dashed through a tunnel of racuous cheerleaders: the sports featured were Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Golf, Girls Tennis, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Cross Country, Cheerleader, Football.
One of Norristown’s favorites, Baile Folklorico, was performed by Alondra Hernadez and Edeline Rosales. They wore white Jalisco dresses, and they tapped their feet waving their long dresses around in a harmonical rhythm.
The homecoming court is one of the most important parts of the pep rally. The court this year included Remynisce Grate, Jahir Ramirez, Kevin Balbuena, Bretty Murphy, Rafael Castillo, Pervel Johnson, Alexandra Carpenter, Melany Mosquea, Camila Villanveva, Yadei Luentes-Velazquez, Raquel Marris, Tenay Brown. The king and queen will be announced tonight at the homecoming football game.
Cheerleader and Football players combined their skills to break some moves for the audience on the gym floor. Teachers and students stole the spotlight by cranking that Soulja Boy.
The final game was an intense bout of Limbo, which had many in the crowd breaking their spines laughing at the contestants, who were literally breaking their spines.
Because it took a little longer for the classes to make it to the gym, the pep rally had to be cut a little short, dropping the annual fan-favorite tug-of-war.
“I’m mad that there was no tug-of-war,” said Senior Mariyah Morales, who was looking forward to beating the teachers.
Even if the pep rally was completely finished and was cut short, it still showed off Norristown’s school spirit.
“This is another example of what high school is all about. It’s a beautiful opportunity for all,” said principal Dr. Detrick McGriff, summing up this school event perfectly.
