Almost every rally begins with a simple question, “Monta Vista, how do you feel?” Normally, each class screams their heart out, attempting to assert their dominance to the whole school. Normally, the gym walls would shake, people would sweat, and one would feel the energy and thrill of competition in the air. This rally, however, was definitely not the typical Monta Vista rally. By not selecting a class as a winner during the Highlighter Rally, leadership ended up hurting school spirit because there was no incentive for classes to put their full emotion into the event.
While ensuring that school spirit remains productive to campus life is by far the most important aspect of all school functions, by eliminating any semblance of a winner, there was less incentive for classes to compete. Even though, at times, rallies can bring out a sense of competition that can lead to “hard feelings” between classes, the competition ultimately serves as a good release of energy and helps unite classes together in cheers and fun games. Many students come to rallies with one driving force: the thrill of victory. Students thrive on competition, and by not implementing any aspects of competition between classes, the energy was not present. There was so little excitement, that people were walking out the doors before the winners had even been announced.
Perhaps the disappointment would have been lessened if leadership had communicated to the student body that there would be no winner of the rally. At least then, people would not have been as startled at the way the rally had played out and the disappointment would have been less pervasive. When it is said that there is a rally, there is an expectation that it is a competition; people expect to fight for first place, and by not having any warning, it only leads to further disappointment.
ASB member Britni Chon noted during her interview with our Entertainment section how the rally’s goal was to showcase the special talents of certain students who normally don’t participate with school spirit. This is a novel idea and it is something we should strive to do more of at MVHS, but rallies are not be the place for this. There are a plethora of events each year, such as Open-Mic night and even MoMA , which fell on the same day as the rally, for students to display their talents to the entire school. Rallies are widely expected to be a place for class spirit and friendly competition, not a chance to highlight the talents of individual students.
By making it both a rally and a showcase for talent, leadership ultimately did an unsuccessful job at catering both things to the student body. This is because the expectation for what happens at a rally is undoubtedly different than those of a school talent show and by trying to blur the line, people who wanted to just be at a typical rally were disappointed. Trying to bridge gaps between the student body, by involving more people in school events is a good thing, leadership just needs to be more transparent with what is going to happen at whatever school function people plan to attend. By better advertising and better explaining what is going to happen at school events hosted by leadership, everyone will benefit because everyone will know what they are choosing to participate in.
