After pep rallies were all virtual last year, this year they are back as face-to-face events but with some changes for the first one Thursday in 4th period.

“So this year we had kind of a delayed plan or we were delayed in our planning because we didn’t exactly know what the pep rally would look like,” senior student council president Alyssa Murphy said. “So when we were planning, we were thinking of activities and ways that we could feature some of our organizations on campus in a semi-normal way, because we had to consider the circumstances of this year and also consider how pep rallies looked in the past.”

Scheduled to start at 4 p.m., Thursday’s pep rally will take place in the gym but with a few big changes. 

“And we have some new things that we’re implementing at pep rallies where our seating arrangement has changed a little bit so that we can space people out and that we can have more room for everyone in the gym,” Murphy said. 

Only juniors and seniors are being allowed to attend the pep rally to ensure it’s not crowded.

“Since we didn’t have pep rallies last year, it’s gonna be nice to have everyone back together, which is really fun,” junior Sherry Hu said. “As an upperclassman I don’t mind not having underclassmen there, but I think it’s kinda nice especially because of COVID and circumstances.”

Freshmen and sophomores will only be allowed to attend the pep rally if they are a participant in the pep rally as part of the band, cheer, drill, or other groups. All students not attending the pep rally will remain in their fourth period class during the pep rally. 

“I don’t think I’m really missing out on the pep rally because I’m not very into school spirit and I would rather not go,” sophomore Aditi Tyagi said. “But I think the live stream is a good option for social distancing.”

Murphy and the rest of the student council are confident on how the pep rally will turn out.

“Things should stay relatively the same,” Murphy said. “And I know on behalf of the student council where we are all really excited to even be having a pep rally this year.”