December 2021 Newsletter

What’s up sunnies! This past month has been extremely eventful as the long-awaited Fall Rally South finally happened. Although it was only my second FRS, it was also my last as I am a Senior and will be graduating soon. Being a senior and having many of my “lasts” did change a lot. I’ve become a riskier person and chose to ride the Goliath at Six Flags despite my insane fear of heights because this was my last FRS. I’ve also just become more tired and carefree about everything. However, I still want the best for my club and am putting my all into everything I do. Furthermore, I want to rediscover the passion I initially had for service and am trying to attend more events. I hope to see you at any future events especially with how many holiday events we would’ve had in December! Also, be excited as we’re in the last quarter of the term and I will soon find my successor! Make sure to attend the elections which are coming up very soon, and to vote for the candidate you want! Elections are an important part of a club’s future and having the members’ voices be represented is extremely crucial. So then, see you all soon!

Lydia Lee

Lydia Lee OAKC President 2021-2022

Hey Suns! I hope that your winter break has gone well, even though it feels like time has flown by so quickly. Just yesterday it was our last day of finals, and now winter break is already over. Merry Christmas & Happy New Years to everyone who celebrated!! I hope that everyone got a lot of presents and caught up on a lot of sleep over break.

Finals week was definitely one of the most stressful weeks in a long time, and it felt so overwhelming sometimes because that was the last thing that would dictate our grades. Congratulations on finishing however, and hopefully, everyone was able to relax and clear their mind over break.

2022 came in a blur, I haven’t even gotten over the craziness of 2021 yet. From coming back to in person school after a whole year of virtual was really hard to adjust to, especially with adjusting to the workload of junior year. No one could pay me enough money to repeat this semester, but I am so thankful it’s over. Cheers to a great 2022, and goodluck with everyone’s New Years resolutions!

Lynne Ta Lynne Ta OAKC Bulletin Editor 2021-2022 Notes | 3

DECEMBER SUN

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4 DOWNTOWN ANAHEIM TREE LIGHTING

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18 HOPE FOOD DISTRIBUTION

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26

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27 NEW YEARS SOCIAL

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28 HUNGER HERO CHARITY MILES

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29 ROSE FLOAT DECORATING

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13th ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRUNCH

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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DECEMBER EVENTS: *may not be pictured on Calendar

Service Projects: Dec 1-28 ★ Charity Miles ★ Tappy Tree Service Projects:

SEPTEMBER ★ SOCIAL: ANAHEIM x KATELLA X LOS ALAMITOS x OXFORD KEY CLUB NEW YEARS SOCIAL - Dec 27 - 1:00-3:00: Twila Reid Park

In Person Events: ★ Salvation Army To Warehouse & Distribution: Dec 11-18 ★ Holiday GEM Theater UPCOMING: OAKC x Culinary Ushering: Dec 4-19 Club Servathon ★ Hope Christmas Distribution: - January 17th Dec 18 - making peanut butter & jelly ★ 13th Annual Holiday Brunch: sandwiches Dec 24 ★ Rose Float Decorating: Dec - Fill out interest form in linktree!

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DIVISION ★ ★

D30S DECEMBER DCM Night Market: Dec 18 D30S Ice Skating Social : Dec 23 ○ East West Ice Palace ○ 2:00 pm-5:00 pm

Lydia Lee | 12 | President As President, one of my main tasks is to maintain communication between the club and the division. I have to make sure all information communicated to me is delivered to the rest of my club. I must take charge and make sure all my members are taken care of at each event. Thus, I also am tasked to find chaperones and meet the required ratio of 1 chaperone for every 10 students. When one of our chaperones informed us that he couldn’t make it to the event two days before Fall Rally South, a million thoughts raced through my head. What if our club can’t attend FRS? What if we can’t find a chaperone? It was scary and I would be responsible in the event that the worst-case scenario came true. Immediately, I asked all of my officers if any of their parents could chaperone and asked the other presidents if they were able to chaperone any more students. I contacted all of the region and club advisors and updated them on this situation.

After waiting anxiously for any response, Whitney Key Club’s President, Emily Thang, informed me that their club had an extra chaperone. However, another club also had a chaperone drop out last minute. I continued searching for a potential chaperone as we still needed one for our own club. I contacted one of the other presidents, Magnolia Key Club’s Tommy Duong, as they had previously stated they had 9 open spots because they just wanted an extra chaperone for just one student. With this new shared chaperone, 29 out of our 30 attendees were covered. I continued to beg in the President’s chat asking for a chaperone for just one student. Then, Cypress High School’s President, Anna Nguyen, reached out to me and stated that one of her members had dropped out of the entire event and was no longer attending; therefore, they had a chaperone for 9 students and could chaperone one more. The final Oxford attendee was chaperoned by Anna’s advisor and all 30 of our students were successfully chaperoned!

Finding a chaperone for my 10 students was extremely stressful as it was much too late notice to ask an adult to go to Six Flags with us in two days. Luckily, I was blessed with wonderful peers who were able to help my club and me and am still very grateful for them.

Tiffany Ong | 12 | Vice President This month was our annual Fall Rally South, and it was an unforgettable experience! Since there was no Fall Rally last year, I’m really grateful that it was able to happen this year, as it’s my senior year. Although waking up before 5am was a struggle, I’m glad I was able to sacrifice my sleep for a day full of memorable experiences. After the long bus ride there, we quickly entered Six Flags Magic Mountain. To my surprise, there was barely any line to get in and it took less than 10 minutes to enter the park. I attended Six Flags twice before (in my freshman and sophomore year) and getting into the park usually took around two hours (it was a long, dreadful wait). Since we were able to get in so early, we had time to ride one ride. I was about to ride the Goliath, which is a super scary roller coaster that has a big drop, but chickened out at the last minute :’) But after my friends went on the ride, it was time to go to the Golden Bear Amphitheater for our spirit session! It was so cool to see so many other Key Clubbers sitting with their divisions, as the entire theater looked like a rainbow. After cheering super duper loud, Division 30 South won the spirit stick for the THIRD year in a row! I’m so proud of our division, and I’m glad that all of our spirit nights paid off. After the spirit session, we went to eat lunch and had to wait over an hour in line, as usual. After finishing our lunch, we could finally go on another ride, and I went to the Roaring Rapids, which had yet another long line. We waited for about an hour or two, then finally were able to get on the ride! It was a fun experience, but I was scared the entire time since I thought there was going to be a big drop (there wasn’t). It was over before I knew it, and I got off the ride with my pants soaked from the water. After the ride, we didn’t have much time to do anything else, and the day was soon over. We got back onto the bus, and headed back to Savanna. It was a tiring day, but definitely worth it. Although I probably waited in line for a majority of my time at Six Flags, my experience there was memorable and I’m glad I had so much fun at my last Fall Rally.

Devanshi Kothari | 11 | Secretary This past month, Division 30 South attended Fall Rally South on November 13, 2021, at Six Flags, Magic Mountain. I started off the day, waking up at 4 am to get ready in my yellow spirit gear! Soon after, I got into the car, and we were off to Savanna High School. Once we reached, I was able to locate other club members and we reviewed our cheers for the long-awaited moment of the whole trip, the Spirit Session.

Once we loaded onto the bus, we drove to Six Flags, and we were all full of excitement for this trip.

Once we got to the parking lot, we took some group pictures and headed straight inside the amusement park.

We were able to go one rollercoaster, Goliath, before we headed to the Golden Bear Theatre for our SPIRIT SESSION! On the way to the theatre, we were able to exchange cheers and spirit battle with other fellow Key Clubbers from various divisions who were also attending Fall Rally South.

Once we entered the theatre, seeing all the different regions and LTGs as well as everyone’s spirit wear was amazing! It was filled with spirit and smiles. Then, we were introduced to the District Execs, the LTGs and the auction began. Furthermore, we began the spirit session. Each division had prepared for this moment, coming up with cheers, practicing and coordinating. However, D30S showed up, winning the spirit stick for being the loudest and most spirited division in that theatre. All those spirit sessions and review sessions became worth it for the joy and celebration that followed winning.

We spend the rest of the day going on rides such as Full Throttle, Gold Rush and more as well as getting lunch and taking tons of photos! We also got involved in multiple spirit battles with other divisions. Finally, at 7 pm, we loaded back on the bus and drove back to Savanna with lost voices, huge smiles, and full storage on our phones.

In all, Fall Rally South was one of the most fun, memorable, and exciting experiences of Key Club. It will be something that defines Key Club for me and is very close to being my top Key Club moments. So, let me close off by saying, “Yo Suns, who got you shining like that? 30 SOUTH, DIVISION 30 SOUTH!”

FALL RALLY SOUTH Leann Vo | 11 | Treasurer Fall Rally South 2021 was mine and many others first ever Fall Rally. It was such a great chance for Key Clubbers to have make friends, create new memories, and most importantly win the spirit stick for a 3 rd year in a row. After arriving at Savanna High School by 5:30am sharp, I checked in with my club president and then spent the morning talking to my friends. The bus ride to Six Flags was basically silent as everyone was knocked out, probably from sleeping late. By the time we arrived, we walked all the way from the parking lot to the front of the park. Since we had time to spare before our spirit session, my friends and I went on the ride Goliath, which was SO MUCH fun. One of the best rides at the park by far.

Our spirit session was incredibly chaotic as it took multiple divisions a long time to enter the theater due to their large size. It was intimidating for sure. The spirit session passed by super quickly and after waiting for the judges to decide who to award the spirit stick to, we were lucky enough to win it, beating out all the other divisions in our region.

The rest of the day, we got to spend hanging out with our friends and making new friends from other divisions. My friends and I went on several other rides throughout the day such as Viper and Gold Rusher.

After attending my first ever Fall Rally South, I was able to understand why so many people were always excited for this event. It was a great chance to bond with my division and meet new people. I highly encourage anyone that is interested in attending next year to go.

Fall Rally South | 7

FALL RALLY SOUTH

Kenneth Nguyen | 11 | Project Chair This is probably one of the MANY articles you read about Fall Rally South 2021, but that’s because it's such an amazing and memorable event, you should really go next year and the rest of your high school journey! However, everyone’s experience is different, so yours might be completely different from mine. Here’s goes my experience!

Luckily, November 11 and 12 were Veteran’s Day and a Non-Student Day, so I had extra time to prepare and also do some homework beforehand. I got all my gear ready! What I was going to wear is some pants, a division shirt, a division hoodie, and a fanny pack! In 2019, I wore shorts to Fall Rally and it was freezing cold in the morning, so I decided to wear long pants this time. This year, I wore a fanny pack to keep my phone in, since I don’t want it to slip out during a ride or while I’m running to the lines of rollercoasters. Packing my backpack, I filled it up with some water bottles and snacks, which I hid of course. Last time, we were told that we could only bring one water bottle so I only brought one, but turns out they didn’t really care and I ended up having to buy the really expensive SMART water. I hid the snacks I had which were just junk food, and also my water bottles into my backpack, which I recommend you do next year! Shhhhh, don’t tell Six Flags or the adults!

Then came the day. I woke up at 4 AM after 5 hours of sleep, which isn’t that bad considering I only sleep like an hour more for school and most people only got like 4-5 hours before FRS :D. After waiting for the buses to arrive and practicing our cheers for the spirit session, we finally board the bus, and I sit next to Alvin Phan, a sophomore! The drive to Six Flags Magic Mountain was about 1.5 hours long, so most people went on their phones, talked with each other, or slept. I slept (closed my eyes) for the majority of the ride LOL. Arriving at the amusement park, we took quick pictures with the whole OAKC and started heading to the entrance. Surprisingly, the line for the entrance was so short compared to 2019, only having to wait like 20 minutes just to get in. In 2019, we had to wait like an hour just to enter the park. Because we entered the park early, we had plenty of time to go on a ride or two, which we didn’t have in 2019. Before meeting up with our division at the Golden Bear Theatre where the Spirit Session was held at 11 am (but we had to be there by 10 am), I went with Bryan Phan, Victoria Tran, Megan Tran, Alvin Phan, and Devanshi Kothari to Goliath, a pretty intense ride with a huge drop.

After, we participated in Spirit Battles and headed to the Spirit Session. After 30 minutes of dying in burning heat, we entered the Spirit Session, which included the cheering competition and also auctioning of district board members! I’m sure other board members will be talking about this, so I’ll skip after this! But we won the Spirit Stick! WOOOOOO! After the Spirit Session ended and pictures were taken, Victoria, Bryan, Megan, Alvin, Joseph Lukas, and I rode 2 rides, the bumper cars and the Superman Escape from Krypton. They were amazing rides but the lines were very long :/. After, we decided to eat, waiting ONE WHOLE HOUR just to order food. Unfortunately, it was 3 by the time we finished the rides and eating, so we could go on one last ride. Bryan, Joseph, Alvin, and I joined Devanshi and Lynne Ta at Full Throttle, a crazy fast ride that shot both forwards and backward!!

Confused about everything I’m saying about the rides? You can find out by going to Fall Rally South next year :)!!! To end off the day, we rode the carousel and took pictures with the division, experiencing a depressing and dark drive back to Savanna High School.

My whole Fall Rally experience could not be summarized in such a small article, so I really encourage you guys to come out next year! I can’t wait to go next year, and it’ll be my last year :(. Hope to see you guys there!

FALL RALLY SOUTH Victoria Tran | 10 | Project Chair The month of November is the most awaited month for any Key Clubber in Southern California. Those long spirit nights of constant memorization and cheering are finally being put to the test. The burns from the glue gun due to making my sunflower headband will finally be worth it. The morning of Fall Rally South, we were still going over our cheers. Doesn’t matter if it’s 6am or 6pm, Division 30 South’s spirit never falters.

During the Spirit Session, I was nervous watching Division 04 North fill the theater. They took up the entire right side and it caught me off guard. Even worse, I got scared when I heard Division 04 West cheer. They were so loud and spirited!! However, competition may have intimidated me, but it did not affect how loud and spirited I was going to be during our turn. When you are the ones cheering, it is hard to hear yourself. I didn’t know if Division 30 South was going to sound louder and clearer than the Dragons so when we were all anxiously waiting for the judges to announce the winners, I was crossing my fingers and praying it would be us.

Hearing “DIVISION 30 SOUTH” announced as the winners filled me with some type of excitement and joy I cannot explain with words.

It was such a crazy feeling. I was shaking so much that my phone recording was just a series of blurs and screams. Fall Rally South really does live up to the hype and just writing about it makes me feel the adrenaline and thrill I felt that day.

Next year during Fall Rally South, one thing I hope is that I can sit next to my friends during the Spirit Session. Of course, my responsibility as spirit committee was to spread out across the crowd, but I hope to be able to celebrate with my friends next year.

The rest of the day at Fall Rally South was a blast. A bunch of spirit battles in lines for rides and me and my friend decided to go on rides in the Kid Section of the park, but we were kicked out after 3 rides. It was a little funny to us. My favorite ride was definitely Superman: Escape from Krypton. It didn’t feel as scary, but the surprise launch made it so thrilling. I can’t wait for Fall Rally South next year!!

Fall Rally South | 9

Kaylin Chan | 10 | Historian Last year, 2020, all in-person events were cancelled to keep everyone safe from COVID-19. This year, 2021, in-person events have made a great comeback, and we are so grateful -- for Key Club’s resilience, members, officers, advisors, and everything in between! Just this past month, our old annual event, Keysgiving, took place on the 27th of November.

Similar to Thanksgiving, it was a time for Key Clubbers to meet, give thanks, appreciate each other, and have fun celebrating this time of gratitude, thankfulness, and enjoyment! It’s like a parody of Thanksgiving, just like Friendsgiving, or any of the other similar mini gatherings held and celebrated around this time of year to bring joy and spread good feelings across different communities -- this one being this amazing international organization called Key Club.

Keygiving, itself, had lots of delicious food, fun icebreakers, a marriage booth, and a cheerful atmosphere. We got to know our fellow division members even better, bond over food, and even get “married” to other Key Clubbers. We even had a painted sunset background and a “wedding photographer” to take commemorative photos of the marriage and honeymoon by the beautiful sunset under the bridge.

As my first Keysgiving, personally, it was an extremely interesting and fun experience. Contrary to my expectations, the best part wasn’t just the food, this time (although the potluck was wonderful, as usual -- with chicken wings, coffee jelly, nachos, milk tea, etc.), the best part was the comfortable and warm atmosphere filled with pleasantries, jokes, and a positive mood.

Whether it was chatting, marrying, eating, playing, or just vibing, Keysgiving was an amazing event that brought many Key Clubbers together. Although not everyone got married, and although the wedding wasn’t technically official, it did bring the union of many friends and Key Clubbers, and gave each of us a warm memory of giving to look back upon or look forward to each year!

Helen Tran | 10 | Publicist Food, service, and... MARRIAGE? Just two days ago, I attended my first ever Keys-giving, and it was AWESOME! Keys-giving was basically just our version of friends-giving, and it was basically a division social that was also a potluck and had a service opportunity. For the potluck, I prepared small cups of coffee jelly beforehand to bring to the table, and also some plates as well as spoons! I actually did not bring enough plates for everyone, unfortunately, and I was one of the unlucky few who had to resort to napkins and even empty food trays as alternatives (I mean hey, you got to do what you got to do!). I made eye contact with way too many people as I ate my chicken wings using the empty brownie container... But maybe I should back up a little bit; before we got to the actual eating, we did a fun icebreaker called” speed dating! At first, we paired up, and got into two lines facing each other. There were various questions we discussed, and every couple of minutes or so we would move onto another person! I got to know quite a few new people from this, especially some new Key Club freshmen from other schools. Very exciting! As I was also playing historian for this event, I spent most of my time taking pictures of people and “operating” the marriage photo booth. Basically, you could get married to someone with Anna (Cypress KC President!) and Natalie (D30S Executive Assistant / Cypress KC Vice President!) being very awesome officiators. My favorite part was honestly hearing Natalie say, “By the power vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you wife and wife.” Then, you would head over to the bridge for some very amazing photos (taken by myself, of course!) in front of a beautifully painted backdrop (shoutout to D30S Publicity Coordinator Itzel). While I only got around to marrying two people, and was unable to participate in the cute service activity, I had so much fun and can’t wait to meet even more people the rest of this term!

Rachel Kim | 10 | Historian Although I was unfortunately not able to attend Fall Rally South, I want to take the time to talk about Pause For! Pause For is an online service event through an app, in which you can set a timer to limit the time you are on your phone while gaining points to help a cause of your choice.

The causes you may support are One Tree Planted, The Inner Pup, and Feeding America.

Whenever you pause your phone for a certain amount of time, you receive Kin, which are basically points. The app uses the Kin as donations to charities.

Especially during Thanksgiving break, I was almost constantly at home, and it was very tempting to go on my phone. However, the app helped me set a time to limit my distractions, and it was very helpful for me as someone using the Pomodoro studying method. I would set the timer and put my phone away, making sure I don’t get distracted for some time, and I was able to keep working. Other than the downfall that there are some glitches in the app, there are many fun functions to it as well.

Of course, there are many other apps to increase your productivity and keep you off your phone, but Pause For is a great way to do all of the above while also doing good for the community in need. As mentioned before, there are certain causes you may contribute your time to. One Tree Planted is a non-profit organization in which uses donations to cover the costs to get more trees planted in areas in North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The Inner Pup provides education, instruction, and affordable care for low-income families and their dogs.

Feeding America provides meals for Americans through a nationwide network of member food banks and actively works to end world hunger.

Now, this may have sounded like an advertisement for our online service opportunities, but I really want to encourage you to download Pause For, if anything, as a simple way to earn service hours. Especially if you are a general member who is not able to attend too many in-person events due to schedule conflicts, I definitely recommend you to participate in the few online service events like Pause For to get those hours in!

Zuleyka Urieta | 12 | Historian One of Oxford Academy Key Club’s most popular service projects is “Color A Smile”, in relation to the non-profit organization that distributes cheerful drawings. The nonprofit “Color A Smile” to this day has partnered with volunteers all over the world to distribute positive illustrations to senior citizens, troops overseas, children, and generally anyone in need of a smile to brighten their day. Thousands of drawings are distributed monthly by the nonprofit, and in the last 40 years over 2 million have been mailed out.

Every few weeks key clubbers are given the opportunity to participate and earn a maximum of 6 hours. The hours are self reported and reflect the total amount of time that a key clubber spends coloring. On the “Color A Smile” website there are plenty of pre-made designs for key clubbers to select, print out, and start making lively with colors! The nonprofit brands itself on providing the opportunity for people of all ages and abilities to realize they are capable of helping someone else, so any and all Oxford Academy key clubbers are welcomed and encouraged to participate in this service project for such a great cause! Even junior high students can participate in the service project through the nonprofit themselves by following the easy instructions found on their website.

Service projects such as “Color A Smile” provide Oxford Academy key clubbers an opportunity to earn their service hours throughout the span of a few days before submitting proof of their participation. Service projects like “Color A Smile” were vital throughout the pandemic for our members to make a difference from the comfort of their homes. Now, these service projects are useful for those who cannot attend in person events due to scheduling issues or other personal conflicts. With that being said, be on the lookout for these service projects in the near future to show your dedication to helping out your community and others.

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Joseph Lukas | 12 | Spirit Chair Hey Suns! By the time that you’re reading this, Fall Rally South is either a treasured memory or an event that caused your Instagram feeds to be flooded with pictures of people in yellow at Six Flags. First and foremost, I must mention that WE GOT THAT SPIRIT STICK!!! As a member of this year’s Spirit Committee, I’m very proud of all the Suns that cheered their hearts out at the Golden Bear Theatre at 11am in the morning, especially since many of us didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before. However, a big part in allowing our winning streak to continue for a third year in a row was the spirit night session that happened the night before, Spirit Night #4. Here’s what happened at the last event before Fall Rally South 2021 happened.

Spirit Night #4 was at Katella High School from 4-7pm on November 12, 2021, which was a non-student day for the AUHSD students. This at least allowed many Suns the full day to prepare for Fall Rally, ensuring that they got their all their spirit gear ready and cheers memorized. As per usual, the event started with check-in, which was very crucial to this Spirit Night as it was mandatory for Fall Rally attendees to go to this spirit night. Once enough people checked in, the Spirit Night began with our Spirit Coordinators explaining how the night was going to progress. The format was like this: all the Suns were divided into their schools, and the schools were divided into 3 groups. Each group of Suns would go to a group of Spirit Commissioners, where they would review all the cheers to 1 round. There were 4 Spirit Commissioner groups in total: Spirit Commissioner Groups 1, 2, and 3 were assigned to review the Round 1, Round 2, and Round 3 Cheers respectively while Spirit Commissioner Group 4 taught all the rounds. Each group of Suns would rotate between Spirit Commissioner Groups 1, 2, and 3 to review the round of the group that they were at, and Spirit Commissioner Group 4 taught all 3 rounds of cheers to anyone who didn’t quite know any/all of them well enough.

After all the Suns got an opportunity to review all 3 rounds from the 3 Spirit Commissioner Groups or reviewed with the 4th Spirit Commissioner Group, we took a quick break. This break was quite chaotic, as there was our Spirit Gear coordinator Saadhvi passing out Spirit Gear, our Division News Editor Michelle passing out leis, Whitney High School making/passing out tutus and bandanas, and Cypress High School making/passing out sun headbands. All these people were trying to ensure that all the Suns got the spirit gear that they ordered, and it just added to the charm of Spirit Night #4. Also during the break was the Spirit Stick competition! It was really fun to see all the Suns cheer for the spirit stick that they wanted our LTG, Christina Nguyen herself, to hold on the main stage of the Golden Bear Theatre during the Spirit Session.

Following the break, the Spirit Commissioners took the stage to review all 3 rounds of cheers with the whole division. We went through how the Spirit Session would happen at Fall Rally and practiced the cheers with the signs that the Spirit Commissioners held to remind the Suns of what cheer we were chanting. The Spirit Commissioners also took this time to go over anything that they wanted to correct with the whole division, which caused some pain as some of the cheers that were constantly practiced involved some squatting and jumping. At the very end, we practiced all our cheers and cheered our little hearts out one final time, but not too hard as we had to conserve as much energy for the big day the following day.

All in all, Spirit Night #4 was one for the memory book. It was so much fun to go over cheers and amp up the anticipation for Fall Rally South. I’m so glad that every Sun that attended Fall Rally took the Spirit Session seriously enough to learn all their cheers and cheer proudly at the judges during the Spirit Session. It made Fall Rally South a staple of my senior year and my high school experience. And just one final time because why not: WE GOT THAT SPIRIT STICK!!!

Spirit Night Recap | 13