By Jessie Le
Almost forty years ago, a football game between FVHS and Edison changed everything.
The Barons had been doing well in previous games, but surprisingly, Edison won the game, outscoring FV by a point.
In 1975, FVHS Activities director Dave Hagen and Ben Garrett of Edison High School decided to find a prize to generate more hype and enthusiasm for the Bell Game. They discovered a bell at the Mission Viejo antique shop, and from that moment on, a rivalry was born.
The Bell Game isn’t just about a football game against our biggest rivals, Edison High School. It’s a chance for the whole student body to get involved and show our pride and spirit about being the better school, with physical proof – a bell.
Bell Week allows our Barons to get creative at school in a grand Baron-affiliated way. ASB and Senate members dedicate hours and hours to thousands of posters that decorate our school, students come up with and coordinate outfits for our dress-up days, and dance team, cheer, song, ASB, and the Varsity football team put together a phenomenal Glow Show and pep rally to show to the community that FV has got what it takes to host the Bell – pride, spirit, and determination.
Each year, the posters that plaster our school are creative, funny ways to mock Edison and show Baron faith that we can win back the bell. This year, some of the ones that have caught my eye include – “Barons whale win the Bell this year, Edison will dolphinately not,” of course accompanied by drawings of a whale and dolphin. Another one makes a pop culture reference: “Edison, Imma let you finish, but Barons are winning the Bell this year.”
There is not one single dress-up day during the entire school year that trumps Edison Nerd Day in participation or spirit at FVHS. Held on a Wednesday this year, teachers and students alike did not hold back their inner nerd as EHS gear, suspenders, obnoxious socks, pigtails, and green and yellow transformed our campus.
The Glow Show has only been introduced to FV for its second year now, but the spirit it generates among students, teachers, faculty, parents, and alumni has ensured that it’s here to stay. An accumulation of music, cheer, song, and dance routines, speeches, glowing foam sticks, and FV chants in the eerie dark on campus, pumps up the crowd for the impending Bell Game.
And finally, Friday night, Bell Game Night, ensures that OCC’s LeBard Stadium will be packed with eager fans from both schools, to see whether the Barons or Chargers will take home the bell. The hype from us Barons simply can’t be matched, not only from Friday night, but all week. We show so much school unity, dedication, spirit, pride, and faith in our school.
