Ringing in the 2019-2020 school year, Springbrook students hotly anticipated its annual fall pep rally in the first month of the school year. While Paint Branch and Blake High Schools plastered their fall pep rallies all over social media, Springbrook’s social media went dark.

Springbrook students saw other schools’ rallies promote their fall sports, events and activities that students could participate in. Enjoyable music blared from the speakers. Students indeed got a warm welcome the new school year.

Solome Teferi, who plans the annual event, said the pep rally was cancelled because no one took the initiative to plan the rally during the summer. Teferi, the Springbrook Student Government Association Recording Secretary, said SGA therefore decided to combine the fall pep rally and the homecoming pep rally into one event.

Several students told The Blueprint that they take comfort in having a school day with shorter classes because of the pep rally, full of hype over the new school year. They expected the Springbrook’s pep rally to triumph other schools’ rallies.

The first pep rally of the year sets the tone for school spirit throughout the year, Teferi said, and the lack of pep rally left school spirit in the dumps and created a lackluster fall sports season. w

Erin Crowley, a Springbrook Spanish teacher, said she appreciates having a pep rally the first Friday of the year to kick the school year off and establish school spirit, especially for freshmen. School spirit events make the school environment more positive and allow the students to feel a sense of community while attending.

Gary Frace, the Springbrook cross-country running team head coach, said the appreciation shown towards student athletes at the pep rally help teams feel supported and leads to a better season. To revive students’ enthusiasm and school spirit, Frace hopes to bring back the fall pep rally.