Gallery • 6 Photos

Cc Palumbo

Students give senior Zora Rodgers, dressed as school mascot Angus, high fives as they walk past her.

Students gathered on the football field on Friday, April 22, to watch the last pep rally of the school year. The Leadership class planned the event, incorporating more traditional aspects of the pep rally, such as the winter and spring sports captains walking across the field, to the new activities like students popping balloons on each other.
“The leadership [students] came up with games, wrote the script, and found kids to do all the different parts of the pep rally,” Leadership teacher Karen McNamara said.
Planning for the event spanned over the entire week leading up to the event, and different students took charge of different portions of the pep rally.
“In Leadership, we split into groups to plan, and then we see how long everything is and how it flows,” senior Leadership student Reese Smith said.
One of the key components of any McLean pep rally is the presence of the school’s mascot, Angus. This year, senior Zora Rodgers took on the role, and Friday’s pep rally marked her last time donning the Angus costume.
While most pep rallies are held prior to major games in the fall and winter, this event was meant to substitute the rally planned in winter that was canceled due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
“We decided to have the rally now to celebrate all winter and spring sports,” Smith said. “Originally we were going to have it right before prom, but we decided that week was too crammed with AP exams.”
One of the biggest crowd-pleasers at the pep rally was the balloon-pop race, a new addition. Over three rounds, pre-selected students attempted to pop balloons by sitting on each other, laying on each other, then bumping chests.
“I planned the balloon-pop race, and that was the part that seemed to get the most cheering and excitement from the students, because it was just really funny to watch,” Smith said.
The Leadership students hoped to unify the school and drum up school spirit, even in the absence of an upcoming sports event.
“I hope that the pep rally was able to get everyone’s school spirit up and bring all the grades together more,” Smith said.