SCHS hosted their first ever Welcome Rally on Friday, August 30, with the intention of creating an all-encompassing atmosphere for both incoming and returning students. 

In the past, the year opened with a Renaissance Rally. It honored the students with the highest GPAs from the previous semester; only ten children per class, excluding the freshmen. Some, like junior Marcelino Calvillo, felt that the Renaissance Rally was uninteresting for members of SCHS who weren’t recognized, and the Welcome Rally fixed that.  

“The new rally was much more interactive and allowed everyone to participate instead of sitting and doing nothing,” Calvillo said.  

According to junior Event Representative My-Chau Truong, former ASB President Sofia Kritikopoulos had the idea to switch out the Renaissance Rally with something more inclusive. 

“The [Renaissance] Rally was just honoring ten people and everyone else was just there without a purpose,” Truong said. “So we decided to do something that made the freshmen [feel] more welcome and can have everyone bond together.”

At the end of the week, the rally focused on the “four pillars of SCHS” — academics, extracurriculars, clubs and activities — which were displayed in the gym and acted as a structure for the rally’s program.

“[The rally was] more on welcoming the new and returning students on campus and giving them an idea of what the school year and the campus is gonna look like,” senior Event Representative Eva Kwiatkowski said.

The Welcome Rally’s theme was decades, and featured a “time machine” from which seniors MCs Laila Davison and Victoria Johnson entered. College & Career Resource Technician Anthony Butler and English teacher Lindsey Couto-Mohamed made a guest appearance dressed in outfits from past decades as a tribute to their high school careers, when they held Davison and Johnson’s positions. 

A leadership introduction video played, following the theme of decades. This allowed for the student body to familiarize themselves with new ASB and class officers. Class representatives played BOTC games, which showed freshmen what the annual event entails. The club performances followed, and advertisements for activities like club fairs were also sprinkled into the MCs dialogue. 

One unique addition to the rally was the trivia portion of the “Spirit Stick” activity. Usually, the MCs will point the stick to a class and see who can make the most noise. This year, MCs asked each class various high school trivia questions like “how many community service hours do you need to graduate?” and found eager students to provide the answer. Even upperclassmen felt this was an interesting method of introduction.

“The Welcome Rally helped the freshmen understand what rallies and high school is all about,” junior Chadwick Martin said. “The Welcome Rally also contributed school related information to help the freshmen and got the freshmen more involved.”

While many found the rally interesting and spirited, some students, like freshman Serena Orr, thought that the clubs should have had an opportunity to explain who they were and how clubs are formed and maintained at SCHS. 

“I think some people would have found it really helpful to hear about how you can join, what activities the club is involved in,” Orr said. 

Despite this, the rally provided a very open and comforting atmosphere that reflected the way of life at SCHS. 

“I got to see how proud all the students were to be a part of the school and how to get better involved with the community,” Orr said.