Lively Middle School hosted their first pep rally of the year on February 28, 2025. 6th, 7th, and 8th grade came together to watch performances of several Lively sports. The clubs who performed were The Dazzlers and Royal Blues, along with Lively’s cheerleaders and band. 7th grader Alpha Diallo sang solo in front of the whole school. And at the very end 2 students of each grade played a fun game.
Diallo stole the show by singing and dancing to “I want you back” by the Jackson Five. Diallo practiced and practiced to make his performance at the pep rally perfect. With his exciting dance moves and beautiful voice, many students enjoyed it. Diya Paruchuri, a 7th grade student at Lively expressed it when I interviewed her. “My favorite part was Alpha singing his song!” Diallo explained how he felt performing this song. “At the beginning when I started to practice, I felt really nervous. But as the day got closer I started to feel more and more confident. And when I got there, I was just doing my thing,” said Diallo.
The Dance team Royal Blues welcomed everyone by dancing with pom-poms to the fight song. While the gym was filling up, they were confidently dancing, starting the pep rally off.
The Cheer team and the Dazzlers also presented great performances. Both of them had their set outfits and were all dancing very well with all their energy. Olivia Patrin, an 8th grader in the cheer team explained how she dealt with her nervousness of stepping up in front of the whole school. “I felt nervous when we got up, but like once you starting dancing, it kind of gets less scary because you’re kind of feeling yourself,” said Patrin. Another student in 8th, Juliana Lotz, grade who is on the Dazzlers Dance Team highlighted her joy for performing in the pep rally. “Performing at the pep rally was really fun, and seeing everybody have fun was really fun. It’s really fun in general to be part of the dance team, because we get to perform for people, and I really like performing in front of people,” said Lotz
At the very end of the pep rally, 2 people from each grade who got chosen by administration to play the games. The students from 8th grade were Dot McColgin and Ben Galindo, the ones from 7th grade were Ciara Smith and Zaria Rider, and the 6th graders were Brandon Gordon and Jonathan Benitez. The two students from each grade had to tie one of their ankles together with a rope and they were asked questions. At each corner of the room there were two students holding posters with answers on them. The team who was first to the correct answer would get a point. After all the questions were asked, 8th and 6th grade tied. They had to start from the middle of the gym still tied, and whoever reached the finish line first, would break the tie. Although they all tried their best, the 6th graders won by a second. “It was really fun, it was just the rope was digging into my ankle because Ben is so much taller than me so he was dragging me across the gym. But I still think it would be fun to do it again,” said McColgin. Gordon also liked participating. “It was fun, and I liked that we won,” said Gordon.
In conclusion, this Pep rally was very fun to watch and participate in. With all these exciting performances and fun games, everyone had a good time and enjoyed being there. Now, we all look forward to the next pep rally!