Super Storm Sandy may have delayed Westwood Regional Jr./Sr. High School’s spirit week, but the destructive weather did not stop the traditional Fall pep rally from taking place. On Tuesday, Nov. 20, in Westwood High School’s upper gymnasium, grades eight through 12 participated in several physical contests and obstacles, competing for first place.
The pep rally events that took place included: dizzy bat obstacle course, buddy walker, pyramid, female pie eating contest, male leap frog, human table, tug of war, limbo and the shoe-tying race. First place in an event was rewarded with 500 points, second place with 400 points, third place with 300 points, fourth place with 200 points and fifth place with 100 points; the human table was counted as double points.
Seniors with 4,900 points received first place in every event excluding the buddy walker contest—dominating the pep rally overall. The junior class received 3,000 points coming in second place, the sophomore class received 2,500 points placing them in third, the freshman class received 2,400 points coming in fourth place and the 8th grade class received 1,600 points, finishing in last place.
Among the classic obstacle course and tug of war were the new additions of male leap frog and the female pie eating contest. Student Council president, Amanda Pirola says, “The new events were similar to last year, but the student council thought it would be good to change it up. Having all-girl and all-boy contests definitely added intensity and spirit to the competition.”
Although Super Storm Sandy had no effect on the pep rally, the storm did take a toll on spirit week. Student Council advisor, Casey Gaspartich says, “the storm definitely affected participation during the week, but it did not limit pep rally attendance.” Originally, spirit week included: pajama day, backwards day, cardinal pride day, class color day, and costume day for Halloween. However, due to the storm, the Student Council was forced to postpone and shorten spirit week. The delayed spirit week involved holiday day, class color day and cardinal pride day.
To gain additional class points, student council members hosted penny wars during lunch; pennies contributed positive points while any other coins and dollars added negative points to each class. Because of the shortened spirit week, these points will be collected after the spring spirit week, adding to overall class points.
The overall spirit week points resulted in seniors in first place earning 5,756 points, juniors in second place earning 3,530 points, sophomores in third place earning 2,835 points, freshman in fourth place earning 2,679 points and 8th grade in fifth place earning 1,853 points.