On Friday, December 17th, the Mount Carmel Student Council put on a pep rally to honor the school’s winter sports teams. The goal was to fire up the student body about winter sports and to celebrate a successful first half of the school year. 

The student body and staff were treated to a short but entertaining and fun presentation in the Cacciatore Gym. There were short speeches from representatives from each of the four winter sports teams, followed by candy being thrown to the audience by those representatives. Afterward, an inter-class game of Christmas musical chairs closed out the event.

“It was fun,” said Gus Ball, a junior who made it to the second-to-last round of musical chairs before being eliminated. 

The musical chairs game hearkened back to the Homecoming Week festivities of intramural assemblies, with the freshman being chanted at and the seniors getting generous officiating calls. Inter-class competition is one of the most exciting and easy to root for parts of assemblies, and of course got the students excited. While Ball is a fan favorite, he ultimately fell short of taking the big present home. The junior class had two of the final three competitors, with the other Junior being Alec Wiersma. The eventual champion was senior Isaias Vicente-Martinez.

While the game was the main attraction, the short speeches from each of the winter sports captains were good to get the crowd excited as well. Seniors Elijah Jointer, George Keely, Nolan Fletes, and Ryan Boersma each spoke for their sport. Jointer is a starter for the Caravan basketball team, Keely is a hockey star, Fletes swims for Mount Carmel, and Boersma is the heavyweight wrestler.

While the speeches themselves were good, the audience had a hard time hearing them. Most of the speakers did not have experience with the microphone or know how to properly use it. One speaker did not even know he was expected to speak until he walked in to the pep rally.

“It was kind of hard to hear the speakers,” said senior Onye Egbuna. Multiple other students commented on how hard it was to hear the speakers clearly. 

“I had no idea what they were saying, but I loved it,” said sophomore Dermott Doyle. Despite not being fully clear in their enunciations, the speakers did manage to get the crowd fired up with their energy and excitement. 

After the speakers gave their speeches, they and some of the student council were given candy bars to throw into the audience. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers bars, and Milky Way bars rained down on the appreciative students, with the speakers and council members throwing them to all of the classes, even the freshmen.

However, a slight lack of preparation and a not entirely smooth show is pretty much irrelevant, since the pep rally accomplished its goal: firing up the students about winter sports and getting the student body in the spirit of the holidays. The pep rally hopefully convinced some students, especially those who had not considered attending any winter sporting events, to go see the Caravan competing this winter.