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The band pounded drums and blared trumpets. The step team danced down the bleachers. Wildecat student-athletes ran across the field as their peers applauded them from the stands. 

On March 25, the last day of a spring spirit week, Wilde Lake came together under the sun in the first all-school pep rally since 2019. 

The pep rally’s main attraction was the class versus class competitions. Each class, decked out in green, gold, white, or black, competed in tug of war, musical chairs, and a relay race. The “unexpected winners” were the freshmen, according to Oliver Song, SGA President.

One of the two freshmen musical chairs winners, Scarlett Lopez, said that she “[hadn’t] really experienced anything like that before.”

Scarlett said that the comradery between students was higher than usual that day. “When I was walking away, people were giving me high fives, and it felt really nice. Those five minutes of fame, you know,” she said.

The class of 2023 won the first game: tug of war. The juniors, sporting yellow and gold clothes, screamed in excitement as their classmates yanked the win from the other classes.

But it was the relay race that really riled the crowd. According to the President of the Student Advisory Council Michelle Enomanna, the seniors took home the win, after which lighthearted accusations of cheating sullied their victory. 

Junior Ezra Lynch says the experience made them feel like a teenager again. 

“It helped that my class won almost all the games, but I felt more like a high schooler because it was like ‘Yeah, this is something we do,’” said Ezra. “In pop culture and TV shows, one of the things I was shown were pep rallies and football games, very typical American things. And being able to experience those things…it kind of lined up with what I was shown.”

Accompanying the games that kept spectators on the edge of their seats was the Wilde Lake band, who had just finished their the biggest concert of the year, according to Drum Major Jocelyn Hibbard. This left the band with the two days leading up to the pep rally to dedicate their time to prepare for their performance, she said. 

”The band was absolutely amazing in picking right back up with the music we play for marching band and easily got right back into the swing of it,” said Jocelyn. “They worked extremely hard all week, and we’re all so proud of them.” 

After getting a modified pep rally in the gym for Homecoming, and none the previous school year, Oliver says that the opportunity for the school to be together is significant. “Even though each class may have competed with each other, in the end, it doesn’t really matter which class won,” he said. “We are all stronger together, and we definitely felt that today as we closed out our last pep rally for the school year.”