In previous years, Lake Central has had its usual homecoming football game followed by a dance that was hardly attended. Administration struggled to find a way to revive school spirit and to make the school what it used to be. Last year, the school was able to fit the entire study body in one gymnasium for the first time, and was given the opportunity to raise school spirit.
After a successful first annual pep rally, the school looked at what pros and cons there were, and built off of it. On Friday, Sept. 30, the second annual pep rally was held.
“I think the kids are getting more school spirit. I think that is something we have been lacking in the last couple of years, but now that we have the space to get everybody together. I think the pep rallies are only going to get more exciting and more interactive. We want more music, more cheers and more interaction between the crowd and the cheerleaders,” Mrs. Erin Novak, Dean of Students, said.
With a school as big as Lake Central, it is always tough to fit all the students into one room in an adequate amount of time. Since the pep rally was held during PTE class, the school had 90 minutes to file students into the gym, hold the pep rally and file the students out of the gym.
“Getting 3,400 kids inside of one gym, getting seven fall coaches to want to talk in front of an entire student body and getting participation from all of our kids [was a struggle]. There were a lot of kids that wanted to be there and a lot of kids there to just get out of the room,” Mr. Jeff Sandor, Assistant Athletic Director, said.
Following the pep rally, the varsity football team defeated the Chesterton Trojans with a final score of 38-0. The following day, the school held its second annual Homecoming dance which saw its attendance more than double.
After finally having the workload from this pep rally off of them, administration will go right back to planning the second annual Veteran’s Day pep rally.
