From the exciting environment to the loud music and cheers for friends and fellow classmates, rallies have been important events in our school, fueling school spirit. So why, despite their popularity, have there been so few rallies throughout our school years?
School rallies are an essential part of school culture as they allow students to connect with their friends and peers, as well as foster student participation in school events. As student interaction has greatly diminished since COVID hit, school rallies are more important now than ever.
One of the most prominent benefits of school rallies is the way they foster school spirit and student engagement among students, allowing them to develop a sense of connection with one another rather than remain distant and separated. Rallies are able to do this through their friendly, energetic atmosphere, welcoming to everyone at school. Annual rallies like Battle of the Classes—where students from each of the four grade levels participate in friendly competitions against each other—are prime examples of this.
For me personally, school rallies are such a memorable part of a school year. It is fascinating witnessing how a whole school can come together and how everyone can just have a great time there.
Student Helen Zhou (11) shares this sentiment. “I enjoy school rallies a lot. To me, rallies are fun breaks during a school day,” Zhou explains. “Being surrounded by everyone having fun really makes me feel truly connected to my school, and it is a great feeling.”
Despite the overwhelming amount of positive reception towards rallies, there are only a few every year. So far, we have only been able to enjoy the Back to School Rally, the Beat LA Rally, the Fall Sports Rally, the Halloween Rally, and the Homecoming Rally. School rallies pose no harm to our school and only serve to benefit students, giving them an hour to look forward to throughout the school day.
But even if we had more rallies, it is hard to say everyone would enjoy them. There is a lack of attempts made to reach out to students for their input surrounding school events, such as what they would like to have hosted next and more. There should be more student input in our school events since we students know what we enjoy the most. Doing so would only improve rallies and make them more extraordinary.
Associated Student Body (ASB) member Yuu Duffy (11) explains the process through which ASB orchestrates and hosts school events such as rallies.
“ASB has different groups with different responsibilities when coordinating events,” Duffy shares. “We decide school events based on previous events and the response we got from it and we use those results to decide how to create even bigger events or how to improve on them.”
Of course, it is impossible for ASB to handle and arrange all the rallies by themselves-from the cost to host them, and more. With that, it would be beneficial and wise in order to hold more fundraisers, such as selling snacks and drinks that students like, in order to raise more revenue to host these rallies. Fundraisers are deserving for students after a long day at school., benefiting both ASB and students.
With the overwhelmingly positive reception school rallies have met, it would only make sense for ASB to host more of them, as well as have more student input in order to improve upon them. So let us have more rallies in our school in the future in order to bring more joy to our students and school.
