The tradition of the all-school pep rally in conclusion of Spirit Week will be upheld today in the gymnasium.

This year, however, there may be some breaks in tradition. There has been discussion this year about changing the length of the pep rally and possibly holding more than one. The pep rally is an exciting event adored by most students. Because we love the pep rally so much, why not have more than one?

Student Council and Principal’s Advisory all think this would be great. In particular, the idea of holding three pep rallies—one for each sports season.

Principal John Gould said, “This year, I am just looking to see how you guys run your pep rally. [After Friday], we can go from there.”

Once a proposal is written and discussed with administration and teachers, we can determine whether having more than one pep rally would be a good decision or a bad decision.

Sophomore Colby Lima said, “I personally don’t get pumped up in 20 minutes.”

However, DHS is looking to extend the pep rally. Associate Principal Joanne Desmarais confirmed this. “Students will report to homeroom,” she said, “to drop off all backpacks and purses at 12:45.” From there freshmen will report to the gymnasium followed by sophomores, juniors, and, finally, seniors. The event will last a full 50 minutes.

During the pep rally, there will be no class skits, though this may be in the process of appeal, according to Ms. Desmarais. Instead, there will be introductions of the varsity athletes participating in fall sports, which is something not done before. The presence of this new portion of the event is part of the argument for multiple pep rallies over the course of the year, one per sports season.

There is also discussion of having club representation to encompass more of the student body at the potential pep rallies later in the year.

In response to the idea of having three pep rallies in total, senior Nat Estes said, “Having three wouldn’t make that one pep rally as special.”

However, sophomore Falin Fagundes spoke to the contrary and said, “Three pep rallies would be perfect. We [would] gain more Dartmouth pride by the end of the year, especially the freshmen.”

Spirit Week and the pep rally are tradition at DHS and some things do not change.

There has been some discussion on how the class Spirit Days should be chosen as well. Currently, our class officers collaborate and ask for suggestions from a few students within each class in order to decide the best day.

“I’d like to see more students actually being involved in that process,” said Ms. Desmarais. For the future, we can look forward to potentially filling out an optional online survey in order to decide on a Spirit Day, similar to what the seniors did to decide superlatives.

Senior Max Lindblom said, “It’s good to have school tradition that brings us together.”

Spirit Week is an exciting time at DHS. Sophomore Braden Cabral said, “It gets us pumped to go to school.”

“I like spirit week,” said Ms. Desmarais. “For the most part, I’ve found that students in this school are respectful and have a lot of fun with it.”

With the changes that have come to the pep rally this year, DHS should look forward to an exciting and loud event. The changes will hopefully bring about more school spirit among students and anticipation for more pep rallies to come.

Ready to show your Dartmouth pride, DHS?