Each year, a different game is played for the students at the Elementary School Pep Rally. This year, we featured the briefcase game. The briefcase game was a game where a students name was drawn from a hat, they got called up to the front and if they answered the question correctly, the were aloud to pick a briefcase. The briefcase contained tickets from 5 to 200 and were numbered from 1 to 12. “I loved the flag twirlers and the music, the whole gym was dancing and it was crazy! I wish we could have a pep rally every day!” says Hailey Strouphauer who is currently a 1st grade student. The Elementary School Pep Rally is an assembly that has been happening for the last 4 years and it is done and meant to be tied into the PBIS program. It is an assembly full of laughs, dancing, and lots of music. “I think the pep rally is awesome because it gives elementary students a chance to experience the excitement of Homecoming yet, also talk about the importance of our PBIS behavior expectations. I think having the band and cheerleaders adds a great level of fun and pride that we show with our ‘Cardinal Power,’” says Ms. Brixius. The assembly this year starts off by Mrs. Holland explaining to the students what would be going on throughout the day and the order everything would be going in. Once the kids clap and get excited, she hands the stage over to Mr. Gibson, who then explains what the band would be doing. Mr. Gibson gets the band ready to go and they play some songs for the kids. After they play the first two songs, Mr. Gibson grabs some high school students to help him teach the elementary kids a dance, that they could use for their last song. They then play the last song, and the kids get up and along the high school students. “It was really awesome being able to see all the kids want to get up and dance along with us. It really brings back memories of the old days,” says Kamryn Stine who is a drum major for the band. 

Once the band is all said and done, Mrs. Holland brings out the fourth grade Power Squad. “Our Pep Rally was a huge success! As we continue to promote and encourage positive social behavior and climate school wide, it was outstanding to see upperclassmen join us for our celebration.  Our high school students join in as we motivate our young students to continue to display good behavior throughout the school year and set goals to work towards. Our students proudly wear their Cardinal Power shirts to show their pride. It was a great way to show our school spirit!” said Mrs. Brixius who is a third grade teacher. Five members of the power squad were able to talk to the rest of the school about how we can keep our school safe. Once all of the members were done talking, they started a chant using their signs that said “Promote Safety, Give Respect and Accept Responsibility.” They then brought the screen down to sing and dance to the Cardinal Song. The Cardinal was brought out to dance with the kids as well. Mr. Mansilla introduces the briefcase game that the kids play. A name was picked out of a hat, and that child got brought up to the front, had to answer a question and if they got it right, they had to pick a briefcase numbered 1-12. The kids could win up to 200 tickets in the briefcase. After that, the cheerleaders finish off the pep rally with another performance.