“Roast” Commentary Offends Students, Staff
May 3, 2017
The talent show and the infamous “Roast Rally” were rolled into one event which leadership hosted on April 20 in the big gym.
“We were not prepared [in time], the rally was scheduled to be 2 or 3 weeks before the talent show, or vice versa, but we just weren’t ready to give a rally so we had to combine the two,” said senior spirit commissioner Tom Caprio.
“They were kind of 2 separate things, and I think they stayed that way,” Caprio added. Leadership interchanged between rally commentary and talent show acts throughout the event.
Some students and staff considered some of the comments during the “roast” to be offensive. “There were definitely some moments during the rally that I agreed to that I regret, and then there were some moments of improvisation that were kind of sprung on all of us that were not well received,” said leadership adviser Dino Petrocco.
“Our intention was never to make anyone feel bad or insulted, and so we have been trying to do our best to make amends with those folks. We talked to everybody that’s going to be mentioned in the rally to make sure they’d be okay with it, but clearly that was not enough. I personally owe a huge apology to the faculty and to the students,” Petrocco added.
Talent show segments were dominated by vocal acts, but also included a dance performance and a rollerskating routine.
11 members of the California Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA) danced to Fergie’s “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.”
“We prepared for a week every day during lunch and once during the weekend,” said sophomore CAPA dancer Katie Clare. “It’s really stressful and scary [to perform in front of the entire school],” she added.
Senior Jocie Purcell, sophomore Arianna Glenn, and freshman Kiera Glenn sang a rendition of “Fallen” by Alicia Keys. “I came up with the arrangement and it took about 2 weeks for us to learn the harmonies and get it tight, and we got help from other people, too,” said Glenn. “I’ve been performing for like 8 years, but it was still kinda scary doing it in front of everyone,” she added.
Other singing acts included senior Liv Slaby, senior Olivia Strout, and freshman Angie Louie.
Senior Hayden Hunt and sophomore Will Grubbs served as the vocalists in a band with junior Michael Williams playing the guitar and junior Connor Ogro on the drums.
Senior Megan Taylor closed out the talent show portion of the assembly with a comical rollerskating routine.
Senior Lydia Hancock finished the rally by publicly asking fellow senior Quinn Lyon to Ball.
