This past Friday during sixth and seventh period, the entirety of LHS was invited to our annual winter pep-rally. The gym was
decked out in class-themed banners, balloons, and various other decorations.
The Freshmen’s bleachers were video game themed with a large video-controller banner that read “Freshman Level One” written on it with purple accents. The sides of their bleachers were decorated with rows of black and purple balloons, the back wall hung with streamers and stars, and the railing with more balloons and streamers.
The Sophomores adopted a Grinch theme, featuring plenty of green Christmas decorations. Their banner read “Merry Grinchmas” in green, aside a picture of the Grinch and an ornament with their class year on it. The sides of their bleachers were decorated with green balloons and Christmas lights, the back wall had red bows and more Christmas lights, and the railing had a comically large candy cane, garland, and even more lights running up it.
The Juniors had a very impressive section with the bleachers decked out in red, gold, and black Mickey balloons, red and black streamers, and a banner that read “Disney Juniors,” a play on the classic Disney channel segment for kids entitled “Disney Jr.” Their theme was Disney, even having a student wear a Mickey costume. The middle railing had a huge Mickey balloon on the front of it, with streamers, even more Mickey balloons, and red carpet rope leading Juniors up the steps.
The Seniors theme was space with the tagline “Seniors are out of this world,” on their beautifully painted banner. The Seniors bleachers took a unique spin on the balloons that every other class had, with streamers covering the side of the bleachers and planet balloons placed on top. The railings were wrapped in purple and blue streamers, clouds and rocket ship and astronaut balloons were lying around the bleachers, really adding to the space theme.
Each class showed up and showed out, making this year particularly competitive.
Relay Race
The relay race started off the pep-rally with Juniors coming in first, Seniors in second, Sophomores in third, and Freshmen last. There were many challenges for the participants to complete. The first challenge was to knock over solo cups with a party horn, the second being dropping a candy cane into a water bottle, then throwing ping pong balls into an egg carton, with a final challenge of knocking over water bottles equipped with pantyhose containing tennis balls attached to the players heads. This challenge was meticulously prepared by teacher helpers who helped set up the entire pep-rally and were integral to it happening.
Drum Challenge
Next up was the drum challenge, where each class sent up one or two representatives to guess when the chorus in Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” will start by hitting a drum as close to the beat as possible.
Each class had two turns, but most classes had a better guess on their first try than their second, either coming up really short or missing it by seconds.
The Senior class’s solo representative, Giani Perez, won this challenge by a landslide, with consistent guesses for both rounds of the competition.
Catch The Cup
The “Catch the Cup” challenge might have been the most difficult competition of the day, prompting a team of four to stand in line and catch a cup that is thrown behind the head of the person standing first in line.
This proved to be equally frustrating for the viewers and the players, as many teams had so many close calls that didn’t quite make it.
By the time the countdown was over, the Seniors and Sophomores tied for first place with one complete catch each, and the Juniors and Freshmen both had none.
Box Stacking
The box stacking competition was divided into two games: Freshmen vs. Sophomores and Juniors vs. Seniors. Each team was given 9 cardboard boxes with the goal of stacking as many as they could without them falling.
The Sophomores and Freshmen had a competitive game, and the Sophomores played strategically once it got close to the end, opting to maintain their tower of 7 instead of risk their tower falling to gamble for the eighth box. This strategy worked well because the freshmen couldn’t catch up and tie the game in time, ultimately losing this first game.
After the Freshmen and Sophomores played, the Juniors and Seniors faced off. The Seniors had an efficient strategy for stacking the boxes, making two towers of four and then transferring one tower onto the other. This was quickly shot down, as this loophole was against the rules. Despite the setback, they quickly caught up to the juniors, who were stacking the boxes one by one. The Juniors were the first to get all 8 boxes stacked, but the Seniors caught up with them, throwing a box up so it landed sideways, prompting chants from the Seniors section that “Ours is bigger.”
Shake It Off
The next challenge was “Shake it Off,” where a representative from each class had to race to be the first to shake off sticky notes that were stuck to their clothes. Each class had very different strategies, but Rafael Ferreira from the Junior class ultimately took home the win.
Pizza Wars
In this challenge, faculty had the chance to participate. Duos from each class were set up in the four corners of the gym holding pizza boxes. Their goal was to be the last team/person standing, and knock the other boxes out of their opponent’s hands. The duos were Mrs. Bernard and Mrs. Hines for Freshmen, Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Skorka for Sophomores, Mrs. Fernandes and Mr. Nacsin for Juniors, and Mrs. Valentine and Mrs. Sands for Seniors. Harnessing her past waitressing skills, Mrs. Valentine locked in the win, defeating all of her opponents and securing a win for the Seniors.
Letter Hunt
The next game was slightly cryptic and confusing to some. Teams from each grade were tasked with finding an item, person, etc. with a particular letter and bringing them/it to the middle of the gym. The Sophomores and Freshmen ended in a 2-2 tie.
Flip The Bottle
In flip the bottle, two tables were lined up on each side of the gym, with solo cups lining both sides of the table. Teams were prompted to flip a bottle, and whenever it landed, they would pick up a plate from the table. Each plate had a number of cups they could knock down, and the first team to knock all of their cups down won.
This game was split between the classes, with one game for the Freshmen and Sophomores, and one game for the upperclassmen. The Juniors won against the Seniors, and the Sophomores won against the Freshmen.
Lip Sync Battle
The most exciting event of the pep rally is always the lip sync battle, where teams from each class put together a performance for the school and teachers vote for their favorite.
The Freshmen went first, beating the typically dismal freshman lip-sync of previous years. One Freshman, Rhett Ribeiro, stood in front of the rest, equipped with a mic and a chain, with the group dancing behind. Another highlight was John Vermette running around in a frilly red dress and princess crown in a Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez inspired move. Overall, their routine wasn’t bad, they had the occasional split or flip that we come to expect in these lip-syncs, but it didn’t quite compare to the others.
Next were the sophomores, who really stepped it up after last year’s devastatingly underwhelming “Frozen” performance. Their theme was “The Grinch,” and both the Grinch and Santa Claus made appearances in their performance. They also featured some strong dancers doing aerials and other tricks, which really added to the performance. Some complained that the Sophomores didn’t fully lip-sync during their performance and just danced, but they still did great. Their performance was a huge improvement, but nothing beats the Juniors and Seniors this year.
Following them were the Juniors, who followed a mostly Bruno Mars soundtrack. Although there were complaints that they wore the same outfits as last year, they are always entertaining to watch because their class has a lot of dancing talent, with solos from Eliana Franco and Natalina Castro stealing the show. The show started with an iconic Junior trio, Arda Turan, Tyler Tatro, and Marcus Goncalves in robes and gold chains. They introduced more props and crowd engagement, going so far as to throw gold coins at the crowd to match their theme and pop gold confetti around the gym. Their lip-sync was top-tier. From the dancers, to the props, to the gold jewelry, they made a world-class performance that rivaled that of the legendary Seniors.
Lastly, the Seniors performed a space-themed dance, featuring black lights, glowsticks, and party favors. They dressed in space suits, alien onesies, and violently blue suits, giving a lot of variation in their costumes. They started by running through a banner held by Senior class advisors and iconic science department duo Mrs. Valentine and Mrs. Sands, with the words “Blast Off” painted in blue across it. The Senior lip-sync group not only has the immense dancing power of Abby Odiorne, Gabby Fernandes, and Carina Fonseca, to name a few, but also has almost every Senior cheerleader, giving them a unique edge in competition. In my humble and completely biased Senior opinion, I believe that our lip-sync was the best, from the basket performed by our cheerleaders, to the aliens and astronauts, to the amazing dancing skills displayed, the Seniors took the cake.
The end results of the pep rally and winter spirit week will be added at the end of the day tomorrow, when Mrs. Nemeth announces, stay tuned!!!
Abigail Odiorne • Dec 22, 2025 at 7:12 pm
Great Article!!!