On April 1st, Irvington’s ASG held a rally for students during 4th-6th period, with a grand performance from Cirque du Soleil, a famous circus and entertainment company based in Las Vegas. 

Over 2,000 Irvington High School students participated, reaching a new record of participants just a little higher than the 20 students attending the rally last quarter. 

“I think that making rally attendance a graduation requirement definitely helped boost our attendance at this time,” commented Mr. Ligma, the ASG advisor who had originally introduced the idea. “Some students chose to watch the rally livestream and I don’t know why they’d miss out on a chance to watch Cirque du Soleil live. We had advisors watch with students to make sure they were being active participants though.” 

ASG also spent a lot of time working on the rally to make it as entertaining as possible. To invite Cirque du Soleil to perform at the big gym, the school administration had to cut back on funding for other school clubs and activities, causing every club to shut down except for DECA and Debate (which had already been permanently banned). 

“I know some students were upset that their elective courses like band, choir, and drama were canceled without prior notice, but I do want to emphasize that this is a temporary measure to help the district recover from deficit spending.” said Ligma, adding that  elective courses are estimated to return in 2050, depending on district funding. 

The rally received mixed reactions from students, as some felt that it wasn’t worth canceling courses over, while others were grateful for having a free period. 

“Students were literally climbing over each other to watch the show, since there was limited space in the big gym. I think that the rally was really successful and a lot of students were excited.” said ASG Event Coordinator She Fravacado (11). “Even though students are angry now, I think that it was a necessary sacrifice. We tried our best negotiating rates with Cirque du Soleil.” 

While the rally was successful by itself, the consequences of it have sparked outrage amongst students, and ASG will be taking the criticism into account, according to Fravacado. Hopefully, we’ll be able to have another successful rally in following quarters.