Last week, student council successful ran a spirit week comprised of dress-up days – America Monday, tie-dye Tuesday, pajama Wednesday, ninja Thursday, and club/activities Friday – and a pep rally Friday afternoon. All this school spirit led up to the boys’ basketball game against Fairhaven Friday night and the glow-in-the-dark themed dance Saturday night.
This year’s winter dress-up days were much more successful than in previous years.
“Around this time of year everyone gets so down and dry, and no one wants to be here anymore, and the winter blues kick in,” commented Samantha Barrett, a senior at ORR, “so I think it’s good for everyone to just dress a little more colorful.”
Amanda Carreiro, a senior at ORR, also felt that the dress-up days helped liven up the halls of ORR. She said, “I think that by having the dress up days it adds the spirit and it adds suspense.”
The suspense was definitely high by the time the Friday afternoon pep rally rolled around. The pep rally was kicked off with the singing of our national anthem. Justin Smilan, a senior at ORR, sang the anthem while Paul Sardinha, ORR’s drama club director, accompanied him on piano. Afterwards, a series of performances by the dance team, cheer squad and drama club wowed the audience.
Principal Michael Devoll then addressed the students to present a new two-week program at ORR. The program, “Kicking off Kindness,” encourages students to recognize the good deeds of their peers. When a student sees another doing a good deed, they should fill out a ticket in the main office in recognition of this deed. At the end of the two weeks, there will be a drawing from the ticket box. The winner will receive a free parking pass, a waived athletic fee, a free prom ticket, and a free yearbook.
After this announcement, it was time to start the rally’s planned events. Instead of the class skits traditionally presented at the Homecoming pep rally each year, this rally was comprised of six competitions. Students who had signed up for the events throughout the week had their names drawn out of a hat, and those chosen would compete on behalf of their class. A $25 prize would go towards the class that won each competition.
“I didn’t expect people to get so involved, but I think they really liked the sports aspect, and the Olympic type aspect of it,” said Kelly Merlo, the student council president.
The first event of the rally was the “one minute draw,” where three students from each class had one minute to draw the figure Devoll chose. The first round challenged the students to draw a bulldog, and the senior class accepted the prize. In the second round, students had to draw any staff member, and the sophomores won with their sketch of Bertrand Allain, an English teacher. In the last round, Devoll pulled senior basketball player Paul Graves out of the audience to act as the students’ model. The juniors won this last round with their sketch of Graves dunking a basketball.
The second event of the rally was the well-known “three-legged race.” Two pairs from each class were challenged to run the length of the gymnasium with their adjacent legs taped together. The first round resulted in a tie between two sophomore pairs and one freshman pair. In the end, two sophomore girls won the prize for their class.
The third event of the rally was a donut eating contest in which participants had to eat a donut suspended above them without using their hands. Devoll got the boys’ varsity basketball team involved by having them hold up the clothes hangers to which the ropes holding the donuts were tied. A member of the junior class finished his donut first, claiming the $25 for his class.
The fourth event of the rally was tug-o-war. Two preliminary rounds led to the seniors versus the juniors in the final round. In the end, the senior class was no match for the strength of the junior class team.
The fifth event of the rally was a game called “Beat the Pro.” Basketball coach Adam Rogers attempted to make as many three-point shots as he could within a forty-five second time frame, and two students from each class attempted to beat this number. For each student that “beat the pro,” their class won $25. Rogers set the bar at two shots, an easy challenge for the majority of the contestants. The freshman, sophomore, and senior class each claimed $50, while the junior class claimed $25.
The sixth and final event of the rally was an egg toss. One by one, the original eight pairs were eliminated in a messy splatter, until only a pair of juniors and a pair of freshmen were left. These two pairs proved to be incredibly skilled in egg tossing, as Devoll had them step farther and farther apart and not an egg cracked. Finally, the juniors’ eggs broke and the freshmen were named victorious. The egg toss seemed to be the students’ favorite event: “That was epic at the end,” said Samantha Barrett, a senior at ORR.
As the mess from the egg toss was mopped up, Devoll addressed the students about how to cheer appropriately at a game. He played some videos of college crowds doing unique cheers, suggesting this level of enthusiasm for Friday night’s game.
To conclude the pep rally, Zachary Rogers, a junior at ORR, led the ORR chant: “We are O-R!”
After all the results were tallied, the senior class and the freshman class each won $75, while the junior class and the sophomore class won $100. With such enthusiasm from the crowd, it seems this winter pep rally will become a new beloved tradition at ORR.
“I think they should continue it,” said Amanda Carreiro, a senior at ORR, “I think it’s really different from homecoming, but it was still a lot of fun, and the games were really funny to watch.”
Saturday night’s glow-in-the-dark dance was also a success. Over 130 tickets were sold, covering the costs of a new DJ, black lights, and glow-stick decorations.
In past years, winter dances were planned and then cancelled due to lack of interest. Last year, the dance had interest, but was cancelled due to a blizzard. Student council is immensely proud to have finally overcome the precedent of failed winter dances. “It’s been a four year streak of not having one, and we broke it,” said Student Council President Kelly Merlo.
After seeing such success with this year’s winter spirit week, the ORR community hopes it will become an annual tradition.
By Renae Reints
