To amplify school spirit around campus while also keeping the community safe, the pep rally on Thursday was a little different than previous pep rallies throughout the years as upperclassmen were the only people allowed to go to the gym while underclassmen stayed in their fourth period class to watch the rally on a livestream.

Freshman Anvi Saxena felt the experience was not as enjoyable as she had hoped since watching it on a livestream to get the school’s spirit up would be difficult through a screen.

“The experience was different,” Saxena said. “I didn’t expect it to go the way it did, as it was my first high school pep rally ever. Even though an in-person pep rally would be more entertaining, the virtual pep rally was fun to watch. It’s sad that the underclassmen had to attend the pep rally virtually this year, but at least it’s happening, and our upperclassmen get to enjoy it in person. Plus we still have 3 more years left to enjoy it.  ”

Although desolate without the presence of underclassmen in the stands, senior Nadia Staufert thought the pep rally was overall enjoyable.

 “I thought the band, cheer, and Red Rhythm did an amazing job as usual,” said Staufert. “Although the stands did feel a little empty without all the underclassmen there. It would have felt more like past pep rally’s if all students and teachers could’ve been there. However, PALS was giving out popsicles after the pep rally which we all enjoyed!”

Likewise, Junior Neha Lakka thought underclassmen should’ve been at the stands as they haven’t had this experience before. 

“The pep rally was pretty fun to watch, and I really liked the cheerleader routine in the beginning, especially the formations,” said Lakka. “I think that it was good to limit the amount of students in the gym because of the pandemic, but I think that instead of juniors and seniors it should have been underclassmen since this would have been their first pep rally at Liberty. “