Between all the tests, failing infrastructure, fire alarms, and obnoxious projects, school starts to get really boring and repetitive. Rallies are the peak of life at high school. Rallies are supposed to be something that students look forward to and get excited about, but many Irvington students often exhibit the exact jaded attitude that rallies are designed to remedy. High school is about community, and having school sprit, it isn’t always about YOU. 

Rallies are a part of high school to get students out of their depressing slumps and increase the school spirit.  Instead, Irvington students often find themselves dreading these rallies. Some people say “why do we have to be here?” and “this is just a waste of time and money,” but rallies are not supposed to make students feel this way. Irvington students often lack the spirit that is needed to make these events fun. These rallies are specialized and worked on to get students hyped and excited for school. 

Co-Rally Commissioner Eshan Maheshwari adds to this saying, “Rallies add another aspect of spirit to the high school experience, and for a lot of people it’s something that you remember about high school.” Even though you many not want to go to rallies now, this will be what you remember when you leave Irvington. These experiences will be what makes you love your high school when you leave. You can be that alumni that goes to the football games in 30 years still showing support for your high school.  

“Its just a time that all the students get to come together and you rarely see that anywhere else.” Co-Rally Commissioner Julianna Nepomuceno explains.

Some may say that this is a risk for their health with the Covid-19 Pandemic, but being anywhere at any time of the day can put you at risk. Being crammed into a classroom isn’t that much different than sitting at a rally with your friends. If a student where to go to a restaurant eating their 3 course meal, they would not be “worried” about sickness. After Covid-19, the virus is often used as an easy “get out of jail free” card. If someone does not want to go to a rally they can easily say that “they don’t want to put themselves at risk because of covid.”

Maheshwari has also noticed that after schools shut down in March of 2022, campus spirit is not the same. “Our spirit has definitely gone down a lot over the past few years. The class of 2023 was the only class that was here at Irvington prior to COVID who truly experienced a rally. I remember all the classes had much more spirit,” Maheshwari reminisces, “During Covid, we tried to maintain spirit with virtual rallies but over the time we lost it, but we’re building our spirit up once again.” 

“School spirit has become more of a trending thing with tiktok and other social media.” Nepomuceno relates, “People are starting to see how spirited schools can really be and how fun it is.”

As a high school student, rallies offer an escape from the boringness of sitting in class all day listening to a monotone teacher. You get the opportunity to go and cheer and generate hype for your class. You should take advantage of when the rally commissioner runs around the gym making you scream “I..H..S.. SENIORS!!”

Take advantage of the rallies. Have the time of your life and throw your ego out the window. Enjoy your high school career while it lasts.

As you show up and participate in rallies (even if you don’t want to) you support your school and generate more spirit.  Take advantage of the little time you have in high school to enjoy things like rallies because it truly is the only chance you will get. There is something for everyone to appreciate and having rallies more often can play a huge role in changing the culture and mindset at school.