In years past Tosa West held a school-wide assembly in order to recognize students’ athletic achievements. Last year, however, students found that no such assembly would take place. “Those assemblies were so long, it was hard to keep students’ attention, and we still want to recognize all our athletic teams,” said Principal Calarco. As such, on Friday January 6, 2012, this assembly was revived in the form of a pep rally, held in the large gym, to once again recognize student athletic achievements. “It was our idea,” said Calarco, “to have three athletic pep assemblies each year.” These assemblies will take place in the fall, winter, and spring so that all sports have a chance to be recognized.
Friday’s pep rally held almost all aspects of the Homecoming Pep Rally, with the band, cheerleaders, and poms team all making appearances. Teams were introduced and their coaches had the chance to say a bit about the team.
Minor setbacks included a defective sound system in the gym, making it hard to hear speakers at times, and a flaw in planning as the assembly ended earlier than planned and students were released from school nearly half an hour early. “We thought it would take around 40 minutes, but the students did such a good job of loading up the gym, it just went better than expected,” said Calarco.
Though administration may have felt that the assembly went well overall, students did not have the same opinion. “It was boring,” said Junior Kou Vang; “Everybody was talking, no one was really paying attention.” The volume of the audience was noted by administration. “There were times that the coaches were talking when I felt that the students could have been quiet,” said Calarco. Senior Collin Joseph’s first thought on the rally was: “Why are we doing this, I feel like they could have done this type of thing over the PA, we don’t need an assembly for it.” Joseph, as well as numerous other students, were surprised when they were released 30 minutes early. “I didn’t know what was going on, I was really confused and discombobulated.”
For the spring rally, Calarco hopes to shorten the time period of the assembly in order to prevent another early release, but feels that it may not be necessary when considering the many sports the spring assembly will recognize.
