The second of three pep rallies scheduled for the 2024-25 school year takes place during Thursday’s advisory period. 

Welcoming students as they walk into the gym, the Redhawks band will be playing their pep rally pieces in addition to providing a sneak peak at some of their music for an upcoming competition. 

“At the pep rally, we will play tunes such as the school fight song and alma mater as well as parts of our 2024-2025 competition show,” senior Shaunak Kiara Misra said. “I’m really looking forward to being able to perform again and show off what we’ve been working so long on. I’m also looking forward to giving the school a first look at our show.”

Another featured element of the pep rally is the cheer squad which will be doing things slightly different Thursday. 

“Since we only have three pep rallies a year, we have the same emphasis on each one,” cheer coach and StuCo adviser Kandy Stevens said. “The only thing we did differently for this one is make sure that the routine we’re doing doesn’t need us to have the safety mats down because there’s so much more going on and we don’t want to utilize that time to do the mat setup.” . 

“Usually, our pep rally routines are more stunt oriented, and this one is more dance, [so] I think it just looks really good,” senior Breanna Fields said. “The routine starts off with us just spiriting for the most part – like just getting the crowd hyped for our dance – and then we go into the first dance sequence, which is mostly hip hop.” 

Thursday’s pep rally may be a bit more meaningful to band student Max Dowd. As a senior Dowd know his pep rally performances are coming to an end, but he will have split duties at Thursday’s game at Toyota Stadium as Dowd is a nominee for Homecoming king. 

“I’m looking forward to supporting my fellow band members at the HoCo court nominations and having a fun, last HoCo pep rally,” Dowd said. “[Also], I’m excited to go on the field during halftime in a different way than normal.”