Let’s be real here. Spirit is a fake smile on a majority of the students at Langley. After the tremendous (seriously, it was like a slow-motion explosion) awkwardness of the last year’s pep rally, I had no standards whatsoever coming into the winter pep rally. The haphazard face paint and the blaring rap music can only do so much to inspire enthusiasm in the hearts and minds of our student body.
But this time, I think it just might’ve worked (Clearly, 57-47). Certainly the more direct focus on sports seemed to make all the difference. While the gimmicks and jokes were staged and scripted, they accomplished their purpose, getting the school psyched about our athletics, with some flair. For once, “bring ‘em out” paired with the arrival of the boys basketball team contributed to their appearance instead of just disorienting those kids sitting near the speakers. In addition, special guest performances by the McLean school mascot, Aman Dar’s brother, and Brian ‘Stormin’Mormon’ Doll made things a little more enjoyable for everyone in the gym.
All of the winter sports were announced, lending props to the full variety of impressive programs we have here. Speedos and singlets aside, when the crowd started to break out into a semi-nervous call-and-response “Beat McLean” chant, the beginnings of a legitimately spirited school began to peek through.
That’s a beautiful thing. If this year, in conjunction with leadership’s efforts, we can extend spirit for our school and our sports, past the senior class and a select group of underclassmen, then 2011 will have truly been a year of accomplishment in tradition and otherwise.