I felt a swell of excitement come over me, as the 9th-period bell rang and my class made their way down to the middle school gymnasium. I was already giddy from hearing the school band parade through the hallways blasting some catchy tunes to raise school spirit. It was October 5, a Friday, and the perfect way to start the weekend was to get pumped for the varsity football Homecoming game.

I climbed the bleachers in the gym and sat next to a couple of friends as we took our time to glance at some of the varsity sports decorations. Each sport had a section of the gym to decorate with their chosen theme. Brian Powers, PMHS English teacher and the announcer for the event, brought the crowd’s attention to each team, calling the athletes one by one to stand in the middle of the gym before he announced their record and homecoming game time. 

My friends and I commented on the Varsity Cross Country team’s theme. The members all wore chef hats, and some had literal white chef uniforms. Others wore aprons and carried whisks and wooden spoons. They even brought real baguettes. Their theme apparently stemmed from an inside joke that became a bit of a slogan: “Let’s get this bread!”

The Varsity Girls’ Tennis team was called next. Their theme was Greece. I was pleasantly surprised by the dedication of the team, as all the members wore togas they made out of bed-sheets. I thought it was a bold choice, but the costumes came out astonishingly well. I admired the precision of their painted ancient Greek decor.

The Girls’ Varsity Field Hockey team had quite the clever theme of “Singing in the Rain.” It was a play on words since their coach’s name is Anmolak Singh Randhawa. The girls all wore yellow rain jackets and rain boots.

Next, the Girls’ Varsity Swimming and Diving team members were announced. I looked at their comfy choice of a pajama theme. Their catchphrase, which they had pasted on the wall for decor, was “Don’t Sleep on Pelham Swim and Dive!”

The Girls’ Varsity Soccer team conjured up the silly idea of switching uniforms with the Varsity Boys’ Soccer team.

The Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team was called next. They chose an overwhelmingly cute theme of farm animals. My eyes lingered on their farmhouse decoration with the title “Fin’s Farm” painted on top in honor of their coach, Mark Finegan.  

Powers then called the attention to the Varsity Cheer team. I watched in awe as the cheerleaders wowed the crowd with their somersaults and coordinated dance numbers accompanied by music from the PMHS band. Shaking their blue and gold pom-poms, the team successfully raised the energy level using a number of backflips and human pyramids. The girls then raised their pom-poms together to form a tunnel for the Varsity Boys’ Football team to run through. The crowd welcomed them as a line of blue and gold uniforms formed.

The pep rally was finally over. The PMHS marching band played their famous tune “Pelican Parade” as I filed out of the gym with the rest of the crowd. We headed outside to the annual post-pep rally barbecue. Eventually, people began to disperse as athletes headed to their games and spectators went home to get ready for the football game that night.