The cheerleaders and administrators arranged a fall pep rally for students on Sept. 18 during second period.
“The students seemed to be very engaged and just excited to do the pep rally, again because we have not done them in a few years,” Cheer Coach Grace Fletcher said.
The pep rally began with the NPHS Bulldog Band Drumline, dismissing classes by drumming cadence through the hallways.
Then the band played pep band songs like Hawaii 5-0, Bang Bang, Runaway Baby, and The Bulldog Fight Song.
After that, Fletcher and Principal Cory Spotanski spoke about the pep rally.
Next, activities representatives spoke from the mock trial, girls golf, volleyball, softball, boys tennis, cross country and football teams.
These activities gave a quick 30-second overview of their season highlights and upcoming competitions.
Subsequently, the administration recognized and rewarded students with perfect attendance.
There were over 294 students with perfect attendance with 20 randomly chosen, along with seven perfect-attendance teachers to receive the award.
Then cheerleaders organized a Student Shout-Out recognition from teachers. Recognized were seniors Boston Pettera and Noah Henderson and junior Gabe Moreno.
“It was a really cool way to recognize the kids who maybe wouldn’t be recognized,” Fletcher said.
Pettera was nominated by history teacher Micheline Hoatson for her contributions to Organ Donation awareness as Miss Nebraska’s Teen and her humbleness.
Henderson was nominated by theater and public speaking teacher Brittany McDaniel for his contributions as a Boneyard leader, as he makes sure the student section is loud and supportive, but also stays after games to help clean up.
Moreno was nominated by Strength and Conditioning teacher Dale Hall, for his positive attitude and strong work ethic.
After the shoutouts, Fletcher asked for 15 volunteers for each grade.
At first, students were hesitant, but before long, students began to race to the center of the gymnasium.
“Kids are usually a little nervous to do things in front of their peers,” Fletcher said, “but once they got over that initial hump, they let go and had fun.”
Once assembled in the center of the gymnasium, grades were separated into four separate teams to compete in the first event. Students were timed to see who could get a hula-hoop from one side to the other the fastest while linking arms which the juniors won. Freshman were eliminated for their slowest time.
The fan-favorite Hungry Hippos competition was then up, where two students from each grade collected as many plastic balls as they could with a laundry basket while riding wheelbarrow style on a scooter on their stomachs.
The seniors won this with 17 balls, followed by juniors with 13 balls.
Sophomores were eliminated with less than 10 balls.
The last event was a speed-surfing competition where a student was placed on a mat and rolled over their teammates’ bodies to get to the other side of the gym.
Junior Kacey Munson and senior Jana Bourgeois were the students “surfing.”
The junior team came in first for this event and won the over-all competition.
To finish the pep rally, the 2023 Homecoming theme was announced as “We’ve Got the Beat,” followed up by introducing the date and theme annual Mental Health Day for juniors and seniors.
The pep rally wrapped up as the band played the Bulldog Fight Song. Students returned to their second period.
The administration hopes to make these pep rallies more frequent with one in the fall, winter and spring.
