On Friday, September 16^th, Freedom’s Student Government Association (SGA) hosted the first pep rally of the school year.

Spearheaded by SGA President Aidan Boggs, the pep rally was surrounded by an incredible amount of excitement. This is especially due to the fact that its main purpose was to prepare Freedom for the weekend to come, consisting of the Homecoming football game as well as the Homecoming dance.

The pep rally consisted mainly of games involving students from each grade, as well as friendly games of tug-of-war between different fall sports teams.

Expectations were high, and SGA exceeded them in what came to be a very successful pep rally, which received positive feedback from the majority of the school.

“It didn’t go how I expected, I didn’t know it would be as interactive as it was, so it was a good surprise,” said Freshman Ryley Castro in regards to his first high school pep rally. “It was exciting to see all of the different activities they put on to prepare us for it.”

Mr. Nolan, newly appointed SGA sponsor, believed that his first pep rally was a success.

“It went excellent. My kids did a great job. It was all them, they did everything. I broke SGA into groups and each group had a different responsibility. They compiled a list [of things they wanted to have happen in the pep rally], sent it to administration, and then got it back and worked from there. They managed to get diverse things, did a marvelous job, and everyone responded well to it,” said Nolan.

Although pep rally preparation can be stressful, SGA was able to effectively execute their goals.

“We had a very long list of things, but it was too ambitious. So we paired it down to what we thought would fit, and then didn’t end up doing quite enough. So next time, we will keep the list and prioritize the items on it,” said Nolan.

In regards to future pep rallies, the SGA sponsor would like to take input from students outside of SGA and incorporate what they would want to see. He also hopes to focus more on planning and timing.

Like Mr.Nolan, SGA President and Senior Aidan Boggs also experienced his first time operating a pep rally.

“It was difficult trying to stay on schedule with all of the games and to keep everyone’s attention but for the most part it went smoothly,” said Boggs.

In regards to challenges that SGA had to overcome, Boggs explained that trying to fill an hour time slot was difficult, working to create games that would entertain the people was a challenge, and occasionally it was hard to speak in front of everyone.

“In the future, I would like to incorporate more student vs. teacher games, as well as more incentives so that more people would be willing to participate in the games,” said the SGA President.

Given the success of the pep rally, students are no doubt wondering what SGA has planned for the remainder of the year.

“We’re currently working on Freedom Fest while also working on uniting the student body for sports games,” said SGA member Ania Murillo.

While we may have to wait some time before uncovering SGA’s next great project, students take comfort in the knowledge that their school’s events are in good hands with Nolan and Boggs, as well as the rest of the Student Government Association.