Eldredge blew out our ear drums. The WS Dance Team grooved to a new routine choreographed by seniors Collin Hensley and Lauren Rider. The seniors probably won the Spirit Stick–again.

And even the freshman looked comfortable, sporting gray for the day.

Summer rolls into fall and school begins. The first days are littered with class overviews and sent home syllabi. As students head home, ready for their much anticipated afterschool nap, the leadership class has more important things to do: Planning the year’s first Pep Rally.

“We have a very short time period because school started [on a] Tuesday and the Pep Rally was the next Thursday,” said leadership teacher, Betty Fawsett, “It’s very rushed. Usually we’ll take about four weeks [to plan] in the fall.”

The leadership class had a lot of work that needed to get done with only a week and a half to plan events, make a script, find people to participate and arrange music, among other things; but the students were up to the challenge. Having two different leadership classes (first and third period), collaborating could’ve been a challenge, but the two committees worked together to make it happen.

“We stayed after school, came before school; [it’s] a lot of work,” said Pep Rally Committee member, junior Kyle Petitt.

Already busy with their loads of work to prepare for the much anticipated Pep Rally, the leadership students have one part of the Pep Rally script they don’t have to plan, and they can always count on it being a hit: Jason Eldredge.

“My first time [announcing] was spring 2011,” said Pep Rally announcer, Jason Eldredge, “A lot of the script is activities, and then ‘Eldredge Time.’”

While “Eldredge Time” has been a staple since the Spring Pep Rally two years ago, there are always new events to be planned. Even with the hours spent going over all the different aspects of the Pep Rally, it’s not all smooth sailing.

“We were originally going to reveal the [Homecoming] theme with piñatas, but it didn’t end up happening,” said junior and Pep Rally committee member, Lauren Catington. “Another thing that was hard to do was timing. We had to cut some of the activities like, ‘Remember the Lyrics,’ because of time.”

Whatever complications the Pep Rally committee may have run into, the show must go on, and go on it did. With activities like scooter races, fall sports teams, and revealing the Homecoming theme, Candyland; the pep rally was a success.

“[The Pep Rally] was really fun. It was just so exciting and I was so pumped up” said freshman Sophie Shidlovsky, “I’m definitely looking forward to the next one.”