Oren Lavon (8th grader)

Pep Rallies

There's nothing like running into the gym with your class, as the sun shines through the big windows, shoes squeak on the shiny floor and teams stomp on their bleachers. CMS pep rallies. We’ve all been to them. We don’t all love them. They happen like 3 times a year, or 4, or like 2, it's never consistent really. They usually happen on half days and make your classes last like 20 minutes, and are huge school wide events. These things are complete chaos. Your hearing probably won’t survive them. And no matter how hard the teachers try, the students will run out onto the gym floor when they win. Each pep rally has a few events for the teams to compete in.
While the events aren’t always consistent, here are all the events I have seen:

• Football throw - Students throw footballs from a distance into a trashcan, first to a certain amount of scores wins
• Basketball shots - Students get in a line and shoot baskets, first to a certain amount of scores wins
• Teacher Basketball shots - Same thing as basketball shots, but the teachers of each time shoot instead
• Get in a pyramid and then run with a mat (no clue what they call it)
• Hungry Hungry Hippos - Students drag another person on a rolling platform to grab dodgeballs from the center of the gym. Team with the most dodgeballs wins
• Triathlon - Students have to do a lap across the gym on a rolling platform in 3 different styles
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, Cup - Students face off against one other student to grab a cup between them when the teacher says “Cup”
• Musical chairs - I don't even need to explain this one
• Tug Of War - You know this one too

Pep Rallies- What is going on?

These events leave students full with questions, and also very angry. Like the scoring system that for some reason is kept a complete secret. It's almost impossible to tell which team won until they actually say it. Like during the first 8th grade pep rally of 2025, where one team won 4 out of 7 games.. And got 3rd place? I may be biased in my anger on that, but I need an explanation. Or the pure inconsistency of them. I had 4 pep rallies in 6th grade, and then only 2 in 7th. Also, something not directly related to pep rallies, but the fact that 6th grade has 3 teams, but 7th and 8th grade have 5 teams? Also the events in the pep rallies are constantly changing, as well as the amount of events played. It's completely random, and you never know which events are going to be played. Also there is supposedly a rule that each person can only play in one event per pep rally, which to my knowledge the only team that has ever listened to that rule is 6th grade blue.
 

Pep Rallies are Great

Pep rallies, in all their mystery and chaos, are awesome. They’re just a good time, and while they’re not unanimously loved, I don’t think I would be wrong to say they are mostly enjoyed. I probably wouldn’t have many of the friends I have today without them. They’re chaos makes a good break from the typical order of school. The days before a pep rally are always exciting, and the days following one always feel fresh, like a sort of reboot to my system after months of monotonous school.

To sum everything I’ve said up, pep rallies are so fun yet so confusing in a great way. Their chaos will never get old, and I hope they stay for the many upcoming middle schoolers, maybe even getting better as the time goes on.