Huge high school pep rallies are a Samoan tradition. Our Samoana students had been preparing for the first pep rally since the start of school, and they finally got to show off what they had been working on yesterday (Friday Sept 4).
The first pep rally is a competition between the classes (Freshmen vs Sophomores vs Juniors vs Seniors). On pep rally day, they compete in 4 categories: t-shirt, banner, mascot, and cheer. Every Wednesday the students have 55 minutes of school time to practice, and this past week our administration cut classes by 10 minutes to allow the students 45 minutes a day to have “class meetings.” Each class also works before school, during lunch, and after school each day to perfect all their routines.
The pep rally went really well and was so fun. It was great to watch the students perform and get so excited. I’m a sophomore class advisor, so I have been watching them practice. It was fun, though, to see their final product and see all the other classes.
The mascot competition was the most fun since the students go all out. Each group has 5-15 kids put on a skit involving the school mascot, the shark. The juniors and sophomores were by far the best! The juniors had a Shark King (a student wearing a shark head, painted completely blue, and carrying a sword and shield) carried in by his Shark Attendants (boys painted all blue). They came in and performed a hoka (traditional Samoan dance in which you slap different parts of the body) and then “defeated” the rival schools (other students painted and dressed like the 5 other high schools on the island). The sophomores put on a Michael Jackson themed skit. It started perfectly with a boy with long hair dressed up as a mother holding another boy student dressed as “baby sharkie.” Their skit told the story of Sharkie’s life from the time he was born until the time he graduated high school. The whole thing was a musical with back up dancers and all!
The cheer competition rounded out the pep rally. Each class transforms popular songs into songs about their class, and then all 350 students in that class jumps and cheers and sings. They are even accompanied by drum beats, and it’s definitely the rowdies part of the pep rally!
(Don’t forget to check out the video clips and pictures in My Albums - 9.4.2009: Pep Rally)
A few of the cheers:
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
“A Boom Boom Pow! I said a Boom Boom Pow! Boom Boom Pow! A Boom Boom Pow! All those other classes be jackin’ our style. We’re the sophomore class. Ya, we’re in that 10th grade now!
“Juniors think there hot. Ya. Them Freshmen think they crunk. Mmm Hmm. The Seniors think they rule. Uhh huuh. But the sophomores got it all, and we don’t think they can handle this! Ohhhhh!”
“Sophomores in the front, let me hear ya crunk!” “Crunk”
“Sophomores in the back, let me hear you smack” (Clap)
Girls: “Junior Class!”
Boys: “Throw it up!”
Girls: “Samoana!”
Boys: “Throw it up!”
Girls: “Junior Class!”
Boys: “Throw it up!”
Girls: “Samoana!”
Boys: “Throw it up!”
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