1st Rally Overcomes Tech Difficulties

The senior student section sings along to “Sweet Caroline.”

Students gathered for a pep rally in the Campo gym on August 26 to celebrate the 1st home football game of the school year.

In the week leading up to the rally, students participated in Spirit Week by dressing up in outfits for the designated themes for each day, which included college vs. middle school, United States vs. international, summer throwback, Adam Sandler, and red out.

The setup had been an ongoing process which, “had been going on since the summer,” according to rally leader senior Shane O’Reilly.

This year, with the new additional leadership period, more students were involved in the preparation for the rally. Having these extra numbers involved “made the preparation a lot easier and crisper,” O’Reilly said.

Having more people, thanks to the addition of an extra leadership period, helped in Leadership adviser Lindsay Webb-Peploe’s opinion, making the process more fun. “I think when people have fun, then the rallies are better,” she said.

O’Reilly said that the roll call was his favorite part since it highlighted “a sense of community,” which is 1 of the hallmarks of Campolindo.

The rally started off by portraying O’Reilly as missing and impossible to locate. O’Reilly said that the opening skit was sparked when “[he] missed a leadership meeting over the summer,” during a vacation.

Making the rally happen was not an easy task. “We had to cut out a whole activity, but it will be at the homecoming rally,” said rally leader senior Megan Stephens. “It’s just an example of how we have to think on the fly.”
“I feel like it went really well considering the difficulties we had, especially with technology,” said Stephens.

“Right before it started we had no microphones working and didn’t know what we were gonna do… we had 2 that were working when we would’ve loved 4… People don’t see what goes on behind the scenes to see what actually makes it happen,” noted Stephens.

Webb-Peploe stated that there were, “approximately 20 hours of rehearsal and setup that went into the rally.”

Webb-Peploe mentioned that she was especially excited to see the trivia battle between the old and new teachers. “I don’t know who I expected to win, but I wanted to watch the old teachers get pied,” Webb-Peploe said.

“It takes a lot of behind the scenes work to get ready for a rally like that,” said Attendance Technician Stephanie Sliwinski, who got to drive the Campo golf cart as a part of the rally.

“From video, microphones, lighting, the golf cart, all the supplies for the games and the pies– It takes a lot and I would say probably over 100 people worked to put the rally together,” Sliwinski added.

“I’m super happy that we have rallies back,” said Sliwinski. “It’s been a long time coming, and I can’t wait for the next 1.”