by Ivy Duong & Bethany Pham, Staff Writers
Lights, camera, action! Explore the immense work that is put in for the student-run homecoming pep rally and assembly.
The homecoming pep rally is Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) first major production of the school year and gets Barons in the mindset of exploding with school spirit. However, the spectacular sights and sounds of the pep rally don’t show students the enormous amount of work exerted behind the assembly.
“We [Associated Student Body (ASB) Assembly Commission] have been preparing for this assembly since the beginning of July,” said the ASB Assembly Commissioner, Kara Winthrop (‘17). “We basically write the script for the assembly, plan out how it’s gonna be produced, how it’s directed and everything that goes on in it. We coordinate with the teams, performers and captains, and we are also in charge of telling ASB what to do and how to do it.”
Performers and coordinators rehearse three nights before the assembly and the morning thereof. It becomes a bit hectic for everyone involved, as ASB endeavors to connect with and direct each and every participant in the assembly. Nonetheless, positive attitudes and aiming for success propels them all to work hard. Despite all the stress, there’s a sense of reward given from the energy of the students during the pep rally.
A member of homecoming court, Austin Gergens (‘17), recalled his experiences preparing for the pep rally. “We began learning the dance at lunch on Wednesday, [Oct.] 5th . From that point on, we had dance practice at every lunch recess until the day of the assembly. I did enjoy all the behind the scenes practice that the court did. It was fun balancing school work with all the rehearsals, but in the end I believe it paid off. I hope that students would appreciate all the effort and practice that the various factions put into the assembly because it doesn’t just happen overnight.”
Unlike other assemblies, ASB is challenged to make sure there’s a fair amount of attention shared between the sports and homecoming court. “We focus it enough on the sports teams to balance it with homecoming court, and it always ends off with the homecoming court dance,” said Winthrop.
With help from the Assistant Principal of Activities, Josh Lamar, a class period to collaborate every day and an all-inclusive access to teachers, ASB is able to create dazzling shows like the homecoming pep rally to strengthen school unity, flaunt the talents of each performing team and give FVHS students a good time.
“Personally, this experience [of producing the homecoming assembly] has made me manage my time more wisely and become a better executor, rather than just thinking about it but actually making things happen,” Winthrop said. “I had to plan a lot of things; I’d never done that before, and it got me a lot closer with the people in ASB who have done it before. So it was a really great learning experience.”
