The Athens Drive spring pep rally took place Friday Feb. 9. Both students and staff gathered either in the upper gym or homeroom classes to spectate.
Spirit week was held on the week of Feb. 5 to help lead up to Friday’s pep rally. It included College Apparel Monday, Tacky Tourist Tuesday, America Day Wednesday, Jersey Day Thursday and last but not least, Orange and Blue Day Friday. Many students dressed to match the day’s theme in order to show off their school spirit.
“My favorite day of the week was jersey day, it was cool to see everyone supporting different teams,” said Simone Thomas, junior.
The school’s band played different tunes as the students entered the gym. Two chorus members, Julia Hader, senior, and Anna Vitipal, sophomore, started off the pep rally by singing the National Anthem. The pep rally featured performances by the cheer team, dance team, step team and hyphy. Although the music went out during hyphy’s performance, they continued their routine without it. This earned applause from students throughout the gym.
“It was so crazy that how even though they had no sound they kept going. I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” said Thomas.
Gradman is a competition where senior boys are nominated by the senior class. The 2018 Gradman theme is ‘Keeping Up With the Gradman”. The senior boys were escorted onto the floor, where they then performed their opening dance routine in front of the crowds. Each one was nominated for different categories, such as Mr. Cute, Mr. School Spirited, Mr. Musical and others.
“The pep rally really just brings the school together as one and allows us to show off our school spirit,” said Thomas.
The pep rally also included Athens winter sports teams. The varsity swim team, gymnastics team, wrestling team, men and women’s basketball were introduced. For this pep rally, juniors and seniors were allowed in the gym while the freshmen and sophomores watched from their Drive Time classrooms.
“Overall, the pep rally is a good time. Everyone comes out and gets to see the talent different students have in the school. We show off our Jaguar pride and represent the Drive,” said Christopher Remaley, teacher.
