The annual homecoming pep rally took place on Friday, Oct. 16, marking the official start of homecoming weekend.

This tradition has been the highlight of homecoming week in Glen Rock for many years.

Homecoming is arguably one of the most exciting weeks of the school year. The student council and advisers plan the events starting the beginning of the school year.

“We have several meetings to organize the events; we meet with student council officers, administration, maintenance, and several other teachers that volunteer to assist,” Ms. Katherine Benin, co-student council adviser, said.

The pep rally consists of multiple games, recognitions, performances and competitions. It is an opportunity for all the grades to come together and show school spirit.

“I thought it was a good way for the school to come together,” said Colin Morrow (’17). “I like the competitive attitude that we have against each class, but at the same time we have respect for each class, so it kind of balances out.”

The pep rally is a privilege for the students, but not a right.  As with other school sponsored events, every class has to work together to make sure that these types of privileges continue in the spirit for which they are intended.

“We’ve really tried over the years to kind of make sure the focus is positive rather than negative,” Mr. John Arlotta said. “I love the positive part about it, I love the classes coming together, rooting for their friends and things like that.”

“I’ve definitely seen improvement over the years,” he said. “I didn’t like the negative things, especially directed to the freshman and so forth. About 90 percent of the traditions here are very good, but there are some traditions that I didn’t really love.”

The student council and the advisers, teachers and administration have been attempting to incorporate and encourage the freshman a little more than the previous years.

“The freshman used to not even have a place to sit and so forth so we tried our best,” Arlotta said. “They have some chairs because the bleachers are a little small.”

“I think it’s better than sitting on the ground,” Victoria Calderon (’16) said. “They don’t seem to be having a good time as it is, so why make them suffer more.”

This year, a new element was added to the pep rally. Glen Rock’s first high school dance team led by senior Jordan McMahon performed.  The high energy performance added to the spirited atmosphere.

“I personally loved performing at the pep rally,” McMahon said. “It was an amazing experience and the energy plus support from all the students and faculty was incredible.”

“I honestly thought it was a highlight,” Arlotta said. “I was very excited when Jordan came to me with the idea.”

There was an area of concern between the cheerleaders and the dance team. The administration wanted to be certain that there was not a competitive element between the two groups.

“Some people say they do similar things, but I thought they do enough different things that both could co-exist nicely,” Arlotta said. “It was great, I thought they brought a lot of energy, I’m looking forward to them performing again.”

“I can only hope the tradition will be continued,” McMahon said. “I feel that everything just went flawlessly and I don’t even mean the dancing itself.”