The Buzz

North Reading High School can be characterized by many things: our  award winning unified basketball team, and our numerous clubs, and our collective goal of inclusivity.  We pride ourselves on our school spirit and support for our various sports and organizations.  This year, the energy that North Reading High School students have brought countless times to football and basketball games, and plays and performances was emulated in the effort and dedication they put into dressing up for spirit week, and participating in and cheering on their class in pep rally games.  These students made the week before Thanksgiving break enjoyable and memorable for years, taking steps to make each pep rally fun in its own, unique way.

This year was unlike any other.  Spirit week and dressing up was relatively normal compared to previous years, although a few students had some complaints.  One student made the comment, “I had a little difficulty with the themes,” referring to the different spirit week days this year.  All in all, however, there was notable participation from large proportions of the school throughout spirit week, allowing people to be expressive and have fun with each of the different themes.  When asked about what themes students want to see next year, “Biker vs. Surfer” and “Anything but a Backpack Day” were the most common suggestions.  “Biker vs. Surfer” was a theme we saw last year, though it did not return this year.  We saw a lot more participation then, most likely due to the choice that is incorporated into this theme that you don’t see in many others.  In the theme, “Anything but a Backpack Day”, students would be tasked with carrying their books and binders and anything else they bring to school in, as the name implies, anything but a backpack.  Though North Reading has never used this theme, many students think it will increase participation due to the creative and innovative characteristics, the increasing popularity on social media, and the unique nature of it that allows for students to participate without having to dress up or buy clothes to match the theme.  Spirit week is not the only part of pep rally that North Reading high school students remember, however, for the main event takes place on the last day of spirit week.

On pep rally day, North Reading High Schoolers take to the stands in their class color, separated by grades along the bleachers, gripping the edges of their seats as they feel the adrenaline coursing through their veins.  Students anxiously wait for the trials that live on year after year to hear the annually changing answer to the most important question: Which class is best?  This question is so highly valued that the only way to determine its true answers is through a series of games that have been carefully curated to best test a classes’ ability to undertake difficult challenges, adapt to adversity, and support their peers.  Students at NRHS take these games very seriously.  Alexandra Sfikas, a dedicated participant in musical chairs, described her training regimen for this game in saying, “I couldn’t sleep for the past two nights.  I’m carbing up and practicing at home everyday and hope that I can do well.”  One of Alexandra’s close friends and biggest supporters, Grace Higgins, admitted to us in an interview that, “For Christmas, Alexandra actually asked for a set of twelve chairs and she has been running in circles around these chairs…working on her form, working on her agility, working on her endurance to be in this game.”  Even with all this training, though, Alexandra was not able to win musical chairs and get a victory for her junior class.  Her story still goes to show the heart and dedication that goes into pep rally and the immense stakes it carries.

Theme days during spirit week and pep rally games are loved by the student body, but they are not necessarily new additions this year.  Something that was unique to this year, however, was speaker, James Day Keith.  Keith is a multisport Special Olympic athlete and actor, playing a role in the movie, “Champions,”.  He came to North Reading to talk about our Unified program and the mobile Polar Plunge we are holding on December 15th to raise money for Special Olympics.  He told us about his own experiences on Unified teams and how much the efforts of North Reading to spread inclusivity mean to him personally.  It was very inspiring and hopefully encouraged students to get more involved in the unified sports at the school, even if that just means getting more people cheering on the unified team at home games.

The arts have always been a major part of pep rally, with the North Reading Band and Noteorious giving the rest of the school a preview of their competition material.  This year the band competition set was baseball-themed and incorporated a vocalist, which was new this marching band season.  Noteorious is the high school’s official, award winning, acapella group but they were not the only performance this year, with the NRHS football team expressing their gratitude for the support they have received throughout the season from their fellow students in the form of a song.  They sang a parody of “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree”, using words referring to North Reading and football, creating an adorable end to a memorable pep rally.