Students at MCHS walk into the main gym of the Upper Campus for a pep rally. Everyone is dressed in their class colors and ready to celebrate and participate in many activities planned for this event.
On Dec. 13, 2024, MCHS is having a pep assembly to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the Freshmen Campus.
The pep rally committee is planning for many fun events and lots of fun.
“McHenry High School was founded on December 13th, which is the actual day that we are having the pep rally. So it is the literal birthday.” Director of Student Activities Mitchell Stengel says, “There’s going to be a lot of party themed things that students will be getting and participating in.”
Towards the beginning of the school year, the pep rally committee knew that they were going to be celebrating the 100th anniversary.
“So we knew that we were celebrating the 100th birthday this year and toward the beginning of the year,” Stengel says, “We were thinking about the different ways we could celebrate it, and having a pep rally was one of the ways to celebrate.”
The pep rally committee started in September this year. Later than they usually start planning.
“So we start the pep rally committee in September. Any students can join, and we do it at both Freshmen and Upper campuses,” Stengel says, “every week we meet and come up with what games we’re playing, what supplies we need to buy, and what the theme’s going to be.”
The pep rally committee does everything from spirit days to running the pep rallies themselves.
“They do everything. Everything you will see on Friday derives directly from students,” Stengel says, “For example, our Upper Campus chose ‘iconic duos and trios’, which is the spirit day for Thursday, and then our Freshmen Campus chose ‘anything but a backpack’ on Wednesday. And it’s not only the spirit week, but it’s also every game that’s played.”
This pep rally is important to our school because we get an opportunity to bring every single student in the building in one room, at the same time.
“We never get an opportunity to get every single student in the building in the room at the same time,” Stengel says, “and very rarely, we’re all hype in one direction.”
The culture and climate in a school is definitely what helps the student body thrive the most.
“Yes, you have academics, you have all the stuff that makes school run,” Senior Jamison Shea says, “but I think the culture and climate in a school is what helps our student body become successful the most.”
The pep rally committee starts with planning on what activities could happen and a lot of brainstorming on all ideas around.
“We just go through the minor details on what type of spirit days we could do, what games we could do, and just come up with more ideas,” Shea says, “so it starts with a whole bunch of brainstorming.”
There was a point in MCHS history where there weren’t any pep rallies because leadership wasn’t prioritized.
“We didn’t have pep rallies because leadership didn’t seem as beneficial.” Stengel said, “When I was moved into the role as Director of Student Activities, it was one of the most pivotal things that I needed to make sure that we have.”
As the pep rally comes to an end, students exit the Upper Campus excited and optimistic to keep pushing and end off the semester with a successful finals week.