After 3 years of waiting, Cass High School had an exciting pep rally on Friday, September 17th. The band played our favorite stand tunes as students flooded the gymnasium. These hits include the “Cass Colonel Fight Song,” “High Hopes,” “C” from the “Slammin’ Jammin’ Cheer pack,” “Crazy Train,” and “In the Red Zone.” After the band finished their introduction to the 2021 Cass High Pep Rally, Coach Drew McKaig got the event started by introducing our Fall sports’ athletes of 2021: Football, Cheerleading, Softball, Volleyball, Cross Country, ROTC, and wisely, not forgetting to recognize the Marching Band.

The competition cheerleaders began their 2021 season by performing their routine at the pep rally. After months of hard work, the comp team was ready to show off their 2 minute and thirty-second action-packed routine. Pictured are flyers, Ava Walker, Shuana Dinning, and Abbie Roach hitting their heel stretch. Christie Barnett, coach of the competition team, boasts, “Our cheerleaders have been working hard all summer and school year to perfect their war-themed routine. With their first competition on September 18th, the pep rally was a great opportunity to show off their hard work and have a run-through performance in preparation for their first competition the next day. At the pep rally, the student section became the cheerleaders for our squad, and it was really cool to see their support and excitement to watch the ladies in blue do their thing!” Cass is so proud of this squad and cannot wait to see how their season goes!

The students were ecstatic for a teacher to get pied in the face, but the teachers on the receiving end were not so enthusiastic. Our lineup this year included Mrs. Armona, Mr. Morris, Mr. Rawlins, Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Revard, 

and Coach Dean, our Teacher of the Year. We asked Coach Dean how he felt about being named Cass High’s Teacher of the Year.  “I am very humbled to receive this honor. With so many educators that I feel are so very deserving in this building, I tend to feel a little like an imposter. This honor makes me strive to improve my craft so that I feel as deserving as many of my peers.” He may not have felt deserving of Teacher of the Year, but he certainly did not feel deserving” of a pie in his face. While Coach Dean managed to avoid the initial onslaught of whipped cream, Coach Brennan was determined, catching Mr. Revard for a second pie straight to the ear before scraping the leftovers onto Coach Dean’s dome.

With homecoming only being a few weeks away, Cass High’s 2021 homecoming court has been announced. The freshman representing the class of 2025 are Darianna Sosa, Markayla Sanford, and Yuridia Villela. The sophomores representing the class of 2024 are Carlee Turner, Reese Howard, and Zion Hayes. The juniors representing the class of 2023 are Isabella Brown, Ivania Quiñonez, and Sophie Williams. The senior girls representing the class of 2022 are Abbey Bunch, Dayanara Soloranzo, Eryn Lee, Hannah Komp, Kelly Young,  and Yucaren Villela. The senior boy nominees are Dawson Hedden, Edwin Veliz, Ethan McIntyre, Jackson Hale, Ricky Le, and Jeff Vu. Jeff Vu expresses, “If I’m honest, I ran for homecoming as a joke because why not, but now since I’m on the court I feel really proud of myself.” Congratulations to everyone on homecoming court and best of luck to all of our senior nominees! 

During the pep rally, Senior Ethan Mcintyre, Junior Jelani Hames, Senior Jackson Hale, and Sophmore Jaden Foster all competed in a dunk contest. Each person had a total of three dunk attempts to make the crowd go wild. The crowd chose Ethan to begin the dunking contest followed by Jackson, Jelani, and Jaden. All the participants had amazing dunks but there had to be a winner. The winner was chosen based on how wild the crowd was after every dunk, and the winner was Jaden Foster. 

Just when you think our pep rally couldn’t get any better, the Leadership student set up an obstacle course. Volunteers from each grade level participated by wearing a cardboard cutout of a teacher or administrator’s face while spinning, hopping, and sliding through the course, and tossing a ball into a bin. From a viewer’s perspective, it looked easy, but in actuality, it was pretty difficult. One of the participants, Jovany Contreras, says “it was very fun to participate, but getting the ball in the goal was hard…the cardboard fatheads obstructed our vision.” 

The final activity for Friday’s pep rally was the Half-Court Shot Contest. There were volunteers from each grade level and even the teachers. When Coach Drew asked for staff volunteers, Head Counselor Andrew Griffin took charge. When asked about his background in basketball, Mr. Griffin said, “I was a church-league all-star. I never played serious basketball.” When he played Wednesday night basketball, all Mr. Griffin cared about was playing and having fun. Even with his modest experience, Mr. Griffin said, “the second the ball left my hands I knew it was going in.” His instincts were correct and while he was the only person to bank the half-court shot, he was disappointed that the ball hit the rim.