Are pep rallies real?

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NaginiFay@reddit

They are real. Sometimes, they can be fun. I generally wanted a pass for the library and generally didn't one. As an adult working at schools, I still want a pass for the library. Alas, my supervision is required.

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Baby_In_A-Trenchcoat@reddit

Yes

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Illustrious_Block711@reddit

sadly yes

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Fantastic-Bit7657@reddit

Everything you see in the movies is generally true about this topic. Yes cheerleaders and football players perform. Yes the whole school attends with lots of cheering and banners/posters. The band at my high school also performed.

I graduated as a Ft. Someplace Bear and a few years after I graduated they became the Ft Someplace-Marvel Broncos. There were were 23 in my graduating class, 4 in Marvel, so class sized didn't go up much.

*Towns and mascots have been changed.

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Uffda01@reddit

I had a friend in college who had a graduating class of 4. Even now 30 yrs later, there's 25 kids in the 9-12 highschool. Back then the state of WI gave every valedictorian a 4 yr scholarship to an instate school; and the salutatorian a 2 year scholarship even to schools like this.

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MVHood@reddit

I vacation in a small town in Northern California with very similar set up to this day.

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Old_Promise2077@reddit

My kids (in Texas) go to a high school with 3000 students.btheir graduating class is like 700.

Their cafeteria has a sushi and halal station. The school has 3 pools and my daughter is in badminton lol.

Didn't have sushi (granted this was 25+ years ago and my middle school did have a snack bar, lol). My HS DID have a pool, but just the one!🤭 Went to a HS that had 3400 students the year I graduated, and a graduating class that started at like 950, ended with 700-something.

(Keep in mind, I went to a relatively affluent suburban high school in Texas. I understand pools are a lot more common in that context).

On the topic at hand, yes we had pep rallies, yes they looked pretty similar to what you'd see on TV shows and movies and then some. (Cheerleaders, marching band, drill team, color guard performances, etc. Lots of signs, school colors (black and gold) and school cheer, even a cheerleader in a mascot (panther) costume, lol!)

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Princessformidable@reddit

Oh I went to a rich kid school in Georgia lol.

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freedux4evr1@reddit

I get the sense that pools are pretty common in affluent, suburban big city Texas schools in general is what I meant. Each hs in my district has one (instead each district having one). And I mean like the schools with 3000+ students. I do wish they let non-swimteam students use it more, though...

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Parking_Champion_740@reddit

My daughter’s HS is almost that big but nothing fancy like sushi!

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fasterthanfood@reddit

How big (as in square miles) was your district? If these classes were so small, then I’m assuming the schools were quite far apart, making administration pretty difficult.

Sister’s classes had 4? And 5? And the one after that had TWO!

Small privatebschools put yall to shame

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

The work itself is not political. Though since you seem interested I will give you a couple more thoughts on the oilfield. First if oil drops below $20 a barrel, the oilfield starts laying people off and shutting down rigs. Hurts the local economies. Now when the oilfield is up and going, retail and restaurants in those areas are going to be short handed. Also in the early days of the boom, there will be a serious shortage of teachers and housing due to new people coming in. RV parks (if you can call them parks) and man camps started springing up everywhere. Some of the RV parks are nothing more than the land scraped off with an electric box installed. Man camps are basically a room with a twin bed, a small closet, a sink and usually you share the toilet and shower with the next room. They provide breakfast and dinner. Women can stay there too but it is rare and the clerks put them in the larger rooms with an included bathroom though that costs a little more.

Typically from 4 to 9. They also tend to have rec rooms, gyms and laundry facilities.

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

Well just in the first episode, those particular people would not be living together. They sent the wrong people to shut off the pump jack. The company man doesn't notify the family. If you are taking someone to a site, they don't take their own car.

Now the scene where he threatened to cut off his own finger has been known to happen. But it would not have been the company man's finger. It would have been one of the roughnecks. And him telling the land owner off was very real.

Also the man camp was a real man camp.

And now you understand why I said don't try to watch it with a former oilfield worker.

Couldn't watch that show years ago about the oilfield on History either. I think OSHA stepped in and the companies didn't appreciate the profits from the show going to fines for safety violations.

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Cold_Elk947@reddit

I lived in Plano, right across the street from a high school. I can attest Friday nights were lit.

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momygawd@reddit

Fayetteville, AR here (for high school) - same same same. Plus, we also had the university next door so it was double insane. :)

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Dymmie44@reddit

Georgia has entered the chat...our state's largest high school stadium holds over 15,000. Our biggest college football program has fans that bark. Take that for what you will.

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WonderfulProtection9@reddit

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Gallahadion@reddit

It doesn't help that its massive size is obscured at eye level because most of it is sunken. I feel you really can't appreciate how big it is until you're actually in the stands, as u/PirateKing94 said.

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PirateKing94@reddit

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, the entire stadium complex is actually an enormous earthworks where most of the stadium is “buried” and you enter halfway up. But if you stand by the field it’s enormous

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PirateKing94@reddit

When you’re in it, it feels big. And they also pack you in nice and tight lol.

But it’s regularly ~110,000 people per game.

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kbivs@reddit

You say that like I have any idea which university is M

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idealcards@reddit

Google "The Big House", the first 3 words in a above comment.

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kbivs@reddit

If he'd just said "The Big House," which I've obviously never heard of, I would've just moved on with my life. But when he attempted to clarify what that was by adding "U of M" it was just too funny because there's literally 8 states that start with M. So, yes, it narrowed it down, but only sort of.

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Stats_n_PoliSci@reddit

U of M is well known in elite academic circles and in college football. No other university is known as U of M. Just University of Michigan.

Everyone makes the joke that there is a football game around the halftime show but for that school it truly was. The minute the 3rd quarter started the stands would clear out

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ExternalHat6012@reddit

My Senior year i changed high schools to one in DFW, during a peep rally me and a few guy snuck off campus for a smoke, and the principle and JV football coach where also at the smoking spot off campus lol.

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Texan here also, my school held them weekly during the football season, Stephenville takes the football real serious

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carlitospig@reddit

We didn’t have pep rallies at my high school and I’m so thankful. It just seems like an extra night I gotta figure out what to wear. No thanks. See you at the game; GO WOLVES!

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TransitionTiny7106@reddit

I think everyone at my highschool skipped every pep rally. I know I only ever went to one in four years.

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beenoc@reddit

It was mandatory at my school. You had no choice but to go out to the football field with your whole class, usually in like 85+ degree weather with high humidity because this is the South, and sit on the scorching hot bleachers for an hour while the football team and cheerleaders walked around and the chosen top 40 pop music played out of shitty speakers.

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Brandoskey@reddit

Not always the whole school, they were not mandatory at my school and I always just went home

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Ok-Astronaut2976@reddit

I mean, all of this is “it depends”.

At my kids' school, spirit week led up to homecoming. Each day was themed but on Friday all the grades had a specific shirt to wear (each in a different color).

The pep rally was fun. All the groups performed and even the teachers would do something.

I grew up in a city and went to a private school without a football team. I remember being amazed the first time I went to a football game here. Between the team, cheer, band, drumline, drill, and flags, a quarter of the school was involved in the game in some way. I thought I would hate it, but it was fun.

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LoooongFurb@reddit

Yes, they are real. Yes, the entire school typically attends. I assume this was to get people excited about whatever upcoming sports game was going to happen. They are a giant waste of time.

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Usual-Reputation-154@reddit

Yes

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Loves_octopus@reddit

Probably not as elaborate as someone might see on TV though - at least in most high schools. I’m sure there’s some that go all out.

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jdicho@reddit

Keep in mind that football is basically a religion in the South and especially in Texas where I went to school.

Art and music (outside of marching band) might have their budgets stripped away by the school board, but there's always money for new football equipment and uniforms, giant football stands, and video scoreboards.

....can you tell me what a homecoming is? i was in band, in cheerleading, and it was always such a big deal but idk what it was actually celebrating. sports in some capacity?...

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poser765@reddit

Yeah homecoming is the first football home game after a string of away games. So the team is… coming… home.

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Aeowrynn@reddit

I hid in a classroom to avoid those awful events but yes, they're real and horrible.

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Dalton387@reddit

Yes, but like most movie/show things, it’s ramped up to be much more dramatic than it is. Cheerleaders aren’t a mean girl clique, dating the football players with everyone following the relationship.

DaleATX@reddit

The other way around. It's only about the hype. The schedule is what lets people know if a game is coming up.

Maybe this was rare for my school, we weren’t very good at sports, but despite being a 3 sport athlete I was only in a handful of pep rallies. I was in them when we made state a few times but other than that no one really cared.

Yes, my high school had 4 a year and everyone was expected to go for each sports season.

Very loud with the band playing. I didn't like them.

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LunarVolcano@reddit

Yep. We had a few per year, the one before homecoming in the fall was the biggest. We had four bleacher sections in our biggest gym, one for each grade, so we were all in there. Then the cheerleaders would do routines, the drill team would perform, homecoming court would be announced, lots of music. Classes were shorter that day which was the best part.

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ThunderPigGaming@reddit

Yes, it is. I hated it.

Cathode335@reddit

Yep, had them a few times in our high school. Usually before big events.

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akuOfficial@reddit

My school had it before homecoming, everyone was forced to attend and half of the kids hated it

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youcancallmet@reddit

It’s been 25 years since I was in high school (in the NE), but at the time, yes, we had 1 pep rally a year before the big Powder Puff (girls football) and Thanksgiving football game. I’d say it was pretty close to what you see in some movies.

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Hoosier_Jedi@reddit

So you think they’re making up high school stuff for an American audience who know perfectly well what American high school is like? You REALLY think they’re just making this up for an audience who know how American schools work? You REALLY think that’s a possibility?

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premgirlnz@reddit (OP)

Let me clarify my question - are the pep rallies portrayed in movies an accurate representation of what a pep rally is?

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mittenmarionette@reddit

I can't fathom why you are being so hostile to this person.

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Foreigners are theoretically capable of logic and media awareness.

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OK_Stop_Already@reddit

there's people who think we made up school buses for movies/tv, too. That's like saying an American saying double decker busses and red phone booths were made up for UK tv/movies.

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premgirlnz@reddit (OP)

For me, it’s more like movie court rooms are nothing like a real court room. Or like greys anatomy and house are nothing like a real hospital

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Meowmeowmeow31@reddit

Don’t worry, it’s a reasonable question.

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OK_Stop_Already@reddit

Don't worry we also think they are nothing like real hospitals and courtrooms.

But what would take an American out of such a show if it were based in the US, is if a hospital show was like "oh yeah we have universal Healthcare, don't worry about the cost"

American shows try to use everyday things like that to keep the audience immersed.

But I want to make one thing clear: I am not dragging you for asking the question about pep rallies.

Because I will be the first to admit movies and TV make up some insane shit about schools here. Mostly with regard to the drama in those schools and the perceived amount of money the school has.

I think your question about pep rallies is quite valid.

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BrassAge@reddit

I have no idea why you're getting dragged, here. Questions like these are exactly what this sub is for.

And yes, that observation is perfectly correct. I've been to American hospitals, they are not like House. I've been to American traffic court and criminal court, neither are like Suits, why would Friday Night Lights be correct? And yet it is.

Yes.

The point?

At the school in TX I went to homecoming is crazy. It's very for the ex students and is every 2 years. There is a parade where each class has their own float. I'm talking all the way back to the class of 1965 that will have a float with 6 or 7 drunk old guys on it riding down main street. I haven't been back in a few years but every class seems to have a party and build their float the night before.

The pep rally is huge, with ex students and the whole school turning out. People wear giant homecoming mums. Think of a really large broach with flowers, ribbons, and all kinds of charms and stuff hanging off of it. Some kids have them down to their feet.

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Fast-Penta@reddit

I think the piece that you're missing is how important American football is to many Americans.

Most areas don't have professional teams, and even if they do, tickets are expensive so many people can't afford to go regularly.

If you don't live in a college town, high school football is your opportunity to watch football. And being a red-blooded American, the only things you love more than football are beer and girls in blue jeans. So you're watching high school football. And if you live near where you grew up, you aren't going to cheer for the rival school, are you? No! So, you're going back to the school you graduated from to watch high school football.

Homecoming is a special game where people who graduated get to be recognized and maybe more of your friends join you to watch the game.

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free-toe-pie@reddit

I feel like soccer is like this for the Brits. They seem to get as excited for soccer as Americans get for football.

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sluttypidge@reddit

For real, the nearest college football for me is an hour and a half drive.

The largest division one college is a three hour.

The largest professional football is six hours.

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Fast-Penta@reddit

I'm, like, a 45 minute bike ride from both the Vikings and the University of Minnesota stadiums, but I don't like football. The unfairness of life...

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sluttypidge@reddit

It's Texas Tech and the Cowboys that I'm nearest to.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

It's fun.

A lot of people still live in the community. My wife and I graduated together, lived in NYC for a while, and moved back to the same suburban town we grew up in. Things are a little different now that my son made varsity on the same team I played for when I was in HS. Now, we go to every came to support him.

For nostalgia and the chance to run into people they haven't seen in years. You have to remember that social media didn't exist until relatively recently ("recently" being for people who have been out of school for multiple decades, not "recently" for you if you're under 30 or so).

I don't know of an instance of anyone going back every year, but I'm sure it's happened somewhere.

I went back two or three times in college because I still knew some people at the school and haven't been back since around '88.

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CadenVanV@reddit

Most don’t return but there are always a few from each class and that number adds up over time. The schools usually try to court them because those engaged alumni provide a lot of funding for extracurriculars at the school.

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TheBimpo@reddit

Because it’s fun. You’re showing support for community and maybe seeing a few old friends, seeing your former teachers, etc.

But not everybody comes back every year. People that stay in their hometown may be more likely to attend. People that have scattered across the country aren’t coming back every single time.

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Phour3@reddit

they come back because they are invited back for the homecoming game. There is usually a parade and some other programming specifically aimed at alumni. High schools also have a student dance usually.

Generally no one actually travels back to their high school unless they happen to still live around there and/or their children now attend the high school.

College homecoming games may be cause for a bit more travel, but people travel to go to college football games already for normal games. College sports are very close to professional sports in other countries. They’re televised on national TV, people bet on them nationwide, star athletes are like celebrities.

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AwkwardMingo@reddit

For high schools, the pep rally is typically more for students, but the homecoming game is attended by whoever wants to come.

Alumni may visit to relive high school glory days (like the character Al Bundy), as a social gathering with other locals, or because their children are now a part of the team.

For college, they try to get alumni to come back for Homecoming to try & get more donations. They also promote it as a networking event.

Open_Confidence_9349@reddit

Yes we had them. I went to one my first year in high school and ditched every single one after that. What a waste of time.

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tazamaran@reddit

From Alabama. Every American football game in middle and high school had a pep rally.

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V_is4vulva@reddit

They are real. And used to cut them when possible. Nightmare.

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Ah, Allen. The town that managed to spend enough money on their football stadium that even other Texans were scandalized.

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

Oh heck there was one town that added a quarter percent sales tax to build a stadium promising it would go away after the stadium was paid for. After that they said the tax was for something else.

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Komnos@reddit

What a totally surprising outcome that is such a surprisingly surprising surprise.

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Weightmonster@reddit

Hopefully it generates money for them.

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Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

And here's a more "normal" one in an average high school. Ours were like this, more or less.

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Dense_Gur_2744@reddit

They are real, but it’s not always as big of a production. They were mandatory at my school, so there’d be a huge chunk of people who didn’t want to be there and wouldn’t be very peppy.

For the rest of us, it was really fun haha.

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Dense_Gur_2744@reddit

I wanted to add, we always did a pep rally for Homecoming (American Football) and Snow Days (a basketball game) but we also did pep rally’s for basically any physic activity that made it to advanced competitions. My favorite was the pep rally for Drumline. They put on a FANTASTIC show that year.

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Xora005@reddit

I live in a small rural town in the Midwest. Called the gas company today to pay my late bill. After ringing for quite a while a man answered and informed me I couldn’t pay my bill because everyone in the office was out watching the homecoming parade. I apologized to him, said I understood and would try again later.

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GatePorters@reddit

It’s a rally to pep the school up before football games.

It is real.

You know the joke about Americans standing to clap and cheer? This partially contributes to it.

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tbodillia@reddit

Unfortunately, yea. Find the movie Hoosiers.

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Norseman103@reddit

When I was a 7th grader we won the loudest class contest at a pep rally and I didn’t have to take a test in English because of it. Kind of a big deal.

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Confetticandi@reddit

Yes, they’re real.

I think this is the key. Do some go a little overboard or take it too seriously? Sure. People ruin good things all the time.

Nickinator811@reddit

oh yes they are real

I can attest to that as a former high school student from 2015-2019

we often had to attend pep rallies for the football team all the time

I'm not sure about the cardboard cutouts but I do know the marching band would get involved, the cheerleaders would be there nataurally, the team would assemble, and of course the one guy dressed as the team mascot it would get loud, they'd do speeches, maybe some people had banners and signs. I can't remember all the details

I know they at one point offered a quiet study hall for those who are sensitive to loud noises

but eventually I think they got rid of that option, making it mandatory for all to attend the rally

My memory of high school is very fuzzy, especially after catching covid 2 years after graduation and it messing with my memory a bit.

The point is to get the football team psyched before a game, so they play better. That's what "pep" is. A pep rally generates pep.

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TheSwedishEagle@reddit

Yes, we were forced to go.

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Grace_Alcock@reddit

I skipped them my junior and senior years. I had a teacher who would let me hang out in his classroom doing my work. Thank you, Mr. Glor! I loved your art classes! I loathed pep rallies.

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NoodleyP@reddit

I skip mine thanks to having a relative employed by the school. She’s already there and off work. (Occasionally getting to leave WHEN she gets off work is a lovely day, she’s a lunch lady so it’s always close enough to the end of the day that it’s never counted as an absence by my english teacher who I have last, but class is from 1:40 to 3:20, I’ve left at 2 and she didn’t count that either)

Not my school, absolutely not.

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Sudden_Outcome_9503@reddit

Go to YouTube and type in “Midnight yell Texas A&M”

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JellyBeanDanger@reddit

No only are they real, but in my high school they were mandatory. Pep rallies used to be held after school. Over the years people stopped going so they started forcing us. Which was absolute torture for me. Now, that was my high school in the late 90s/ early 2000s. I’m sure it’s different in other places and in more current times.

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WhereTheSkyBegan@reddit

Torture for me, too. Everyone around me screaming at the top of their lungs with no way to escape sent me into panic attacks every time I was forced to endure it. My usual plan was to sneak off into the bathroom on the way to the gym and stay there the whole time. I didn’t have a phone, so it was boring, but better to be bored than curled up in the fetal position rocking back and forth.

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Bright_Ices@reddit

Went to high school in Utah in the 1990s. Pep rallies were and still are very real. I tried to avoid them completely by leaving school with my friends, but I did attend a couple of them. They were so loud and pointless!

phonesmahones@reddit

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DizzyLead@reddit

In my high school, they would hold an annual pep rally for Homecoming, to celebrate not only the football teams but also the other athletic teams (though of course the footballers got the spotlight). The cheerleaders and drill team would perform, they would parade the Homecoming Court around the track, the Homecoming King and Queen would be crowned, and VIPs would speak.

There would occasionally be other “pep rallies” on the football field or quad to acknowledge special events (we had one in 1995 to celebrate our National Academic Decathlon championship, for example), but the Homecoming pep rally was the pep rally most students would show up for.

Video of my school’s homecoming pep rally in 1993: https://streamable.com/iorafh

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ohheykiki@reddit

Our biggest one for Thanksgiving was the most like movies where each class year had to make a giant poster, create a skit about us winning the football game, spirit week happened during the same time and points were tallied on how many students per year joined in, and the cheerleaders usually did a performance.

The point of them is to get people excited for upcoming events or just to wish them luck on finals/ safety during breaks.

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Oranj_Fwankie@reddit

Yes. On TV they usually occur after school. Kids will ask each other “Are you going to the pep rally?”

Yes They’re real. But during my HS years no one was as hyped as in the movies. Some had more school spirit than others and there were a segment who were into it.

At least when I was in high school in 2010-2014, yes they were real.

Yes.

At my highschool, pep rallies were an opportunity for school announcements, and for clubs/groups like the band, cheer squad, dance clubs, and step team to perform. They raised morale and got everyone excited and happy before football games and before big standardized tests, and promoted solidarity between years. Each year had an assigned color, and everyone would come dressed head to toe in costumes featuring that color or the school colors in general, with noisemakers, banners, etc. We all sat in a section of the gym with our year, so there were solid blocks of color as if it were a four-team sports match. The school mascot (person in a costume) would come out, run around, do some acrobatics/gymnastics routine, and prompt the different year sections of the gym to cheer louder and louder. Sometimes, a teacher/administrator would take a pie to the face or some other silly thing.

Somewhat depends on the part of the country. We do have them everywhere, but they're more frequent in the south where football is king in my experience. Had them only for a few specific games like homecoming and the game with our crosstown rivals when I was in Ohio, and a few for basketball and hockey over the winter. In Texas they were almost every single week throughout fall football season, 2-3 times per year for basketball, and once yearly for women's sports with an emphasis on volleyball. That may have been because the local girls' volleyball team went to state every year.

Our school is only a small one (total city population is only 18,000; the high school reports a total of 730 students for this year) and we're not in an area where high school football is a huge deal, but we do a "Spirit Week" ahead of the Homecoming game, which includes themed dress-up days, hallway decorating contests between the grade levels, and other various events.

Then, the day before the game, they have a pep rally with everyone gathered in the auditorium, with cheerleaders performing on stage and the team being introduced.

The evening of the pep rally day, we have the "Snake Dance", which is a tradition where the football team rides on a float down Main Street from the old high school location (they built a new building in 2000 that is way on the other side of town, so they continue to use the old high school building as the kick-off for this event) to the football field, with a parade of the marching band and cheerleaders and whatever students want to join the march.

At the field, there is another "pep rally" type of thing that includes a bonfire. The band plays the fight song and some others, one of the players gives a hype-up speech (like "We've been working really hard and we're gonna crush them!" kind of stuff)

Then on the day of the game, there's a whole thing before the game to announce the "Homecoming Court", including announcing who won King and Queen.

It's all made to be a big deal.

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Omfggtfohwts@reddit

Did you go to hs in the US? I felt like we had one every month.

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TheSwedishEagle@reddit

Yes, they are real. The point is to get the hot girls into very short skirts.

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cikanman@reddit

yes and in some cases, at least when I went to school 20 + years ago, so was the bonfire AND the random car destruction.

Yes we literally got a car from the junkyard spray painted the name/mascot of the rival school on it and then allowed the football players to take a sledgehammer to the car.

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winteriscoming9099@reddit

Definitely. They’re not common, usually there’s one a year during spirit week iirc where I was at. There might be more, but usually only one scheduled during the school day. Usually not as grand as the movies make them.

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T0astyMcgee@reddit

They are real. How much the students actually care depends on the school. My school got pretty into it honestly.

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CaneLaw@reddit

Yes they’re real, but they’re also mandatory. In my experience there’s a lot less enthusiasm than you see in the movies (though I’m sure that’s not true of every school).

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crackanape@reddit

And if they are real, what is the point of them?

They are real, and the point is to train teenagers in blind obedience to in-group allegiances so that they will be easier to manipulate later with the nationalistic equivalent.

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spookyclouds@reddit

They are very real. We had 2 a year. When I was in school I hated them because they were very loud and it would get too hot in the gym with the entire student body of 1400 plus all the teachers, so I would hide in the bathroom during.

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Well, this new principal wasn't having that! She had perpetual Rah Rah on the brain, and was going to FORCE school spirit because her popularity was at stake! This was laughable, and in the end, united a lot of students and teachers alike for the wrong reasons: we had a common enemy. Teachers despised her because she had no leadership or organizational skills. So she started firing them if they didn't toe the line. She had pep rallies after school (a new thing for us), and they were sparsely attended. She had weird and rambling announcements in the middle of the day where she acted like a sad party of one where we were her compuctual audience.

Third year, she made pep rallies mandatory. And to do that, she had them in the middle of the day. Two hours of enforced cheering, where she was the conductor of this mad carnival of really angry and embittered teachers and students. She changed our mascot from a Scottish Highlander to a Scottish Terrier because "a man in a dress sends confusing messages to young minds" (this was before moves like "Highlander" and "Braveheart" and years later, it was changed back). The mascot was a furry hippo that was supposed to be a dog. And who dressed in the costume? SHE DID! Because this was a popularity thing all about her!

The first open rebels were the band. Her pep rallies started with a long speech where she rambled about whatever was on her head at the moment. One of the people in band started doing rim shots. Let me tell you, when you want to disable someone's seriousness, do a rim shot after they make a poignant statement.

"Fellow faculty and students, thank you for coming here today. I always like to see the shining faces, the future of tomorrow." [ba-dum TSSSH!] "Recently, it has come to my attention, that graffiti in the bathroom stalls is up 30% over last quarter, and this will not be tolerated! Students will be searched for permanent markers, and if they do not have a note from the art teacher, they will be confiscated and not returned!" [ba-dum TSSSH!]

Soon, the brass section started playing trombone "brawmp brawmp" or horse neighs with the trumpet after the rim shots, in ever increasing build up. The band director, who kept yelling into the bleachers, finally had to crawl up them to grab the guy with the snare drum, and drag him out by his ear. The students cheered him as he left, shouting, "I get to leave! I GET TO LEAVE!" Later, band was not allowed to bring their instruments to pep rallies.

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punkwalrus@reddit

[cont]

Fucking heroes, man.

A few of the pep rallies resulted in near riots. At some point, this principal started insisting on a "spirit stick," which was a broomstick with colored tape on it. This "spirit stick" was "given to the class with the most spirit," and right away, she decided to give it to the freshman class for whatever reason. This started the sophomores shouting "Freshmen suck, FRESHMEN SUCK!" and the freshmen joined suit "SOPHOMORES SUCK" and then each class started chanting the other class sucked, and rolls of toilet paper came out of nowhere, and it was chaos. At one point, a few people decided to leave because it was getting kind of scary. Teachers blocked the doors, but very quickly, someone was shouting "THEY CAN''T STOP ALL OF US!" and the tide turned and we ALL started for the exit doors. There were several thousand of us against maybe 12 teachers. The teachers just started desperately grabbing people by their clothing and hair, but it was just overwhelming and we all went home that day.

The next day, the principal had a long speech over the announcements where she was actually crying how much that display of solidarity hurt her feelings.

Only time I saw our high school unified in anything. So maybe it worked after all. LOL.

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eldakim@reddit

Yeah. I haven't seen Moxie but we didn't have cardboard signs or whatnot. It was just a rally with cheerleaders and athletes.

It's just to show school spirit and to get us hyped for a school rivalry. Nothing too wild.

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tarheel_204@reddit

It took up all of last period for us so that was enough to get the students excited lol

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Yes.

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wismke83@reddit

I went to a small school (about 300 students) in rural Michigan. We usually had two pep rallies a year, one for homecoming in the fall and winterfest in January. Both were the bookend of a week of activities and festivities at school like hall decorating, dress up days, a bonfire and power puff football game (girls played football/ boys out together skits). All sports that had home games were promoted during these weeks and students tried to come out to multiple sports events. For homecoming we had a parade that every sport team had some type of ride. Homecoming was much bigger than winterfest (since you could do more outside), and wasn’t as big in the community.

The pep rallies also included games between classes to determine who “won” homecoming or winterfest, so we didn’t just sit around a cheer. Classes got points for how good their hallways were decorated, how many people dressed up during the week, etc. Winning was just bragging rights. Both pep rallies introduced and celebrated all sports teams, but they were mainly focused on the football team for homecoming and boys basketball team for winterfest.

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cat_prophecy@reddit

Unfortunately yes.

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Longjumping_Cook_403@reddit

My daughter is a cheerleader and it's 100% a thing.

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bananophilia@reddit

Yes. At my school a lot of the athletes (we don't have football though) are recognized and students play team games. It's not quite like movies.

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t-poke@reddit

I gave precisely zero shits about high school sports, so my parents would always call in an excused absence so I could leave early.

I'll never forget one time I practically had one foot out the door, and my dick of a chemistry teacher saw me and yelled "MR. T-POKE! DO YOU HAVE AN EXCUSED ABSENCE!?"

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chuckharper@reddit

I’m from the northeast: we had like 2 pep rallies a year and I always skipped them because they were so boring. My school was a public school with football players and cheerleaders and everything but the really cool kids were the theater kids.

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cdb03b@reddit

Every Friday during Football Season, Before major games for the Spring Sports. Their point is "school spirit". It is to foster excitement for the games, encourage the players to do well, and encourage the students to attend the game.

My High School Football Stadium had a capacity of about 5,000. It was considered medium sized.

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cinnamonsnake@reddit

Yes. They used to make them mandatory at my school lol

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gremlinguy@reddit

Yep. It is some variation of that and it is pretty much just a fun thing to get the students amped up about the game and build "pride" in their school and team. Our school was BIG into emphasizing pride. Even in football, before every game, and sometimes after important huddles or a speech by the coach or a senior player, we'd put all our hands in the center and count "1, 2, 3, MASCOT PRIDE!" The other schools did something similar with whatever their mascot was.

We also sang the school song at rallies and at games.

"Ode to TOWN NAME, dearest TOWN NAME,

We'll stand up for you!

We will back the SCHOOL COLORS

We're loyal and true blue!

Stand and cheer now, never fear now,

We will lead the line!

Cheer! Cheer! The gang's all here for TOWN NAME High!"

There were other verses and chants that everyone knew, in-groups and out-groups that were really into it or snuck off to smoke instead, etc etc.

A LOT of what you see in silly American high school movies is pretty accurate

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BoukenGreen@reddit

Oh yes. When I was in school there was one every football game day.

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garagedooropener5150@reddit

Yes. 31 year teacher here.

DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

Yes they are real. The point is to have fun

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nickdemonic@reddit

Yes, they're quite real. They were held at my high school around 10AM and lasted about an hour. Coaches and players would speak to get everyone hyped for the big game.

We even have parades during Homecoming. Lots of decorations and floats and hot rods driving down main street. The whole town participates, because there isn't much else to do. You'll see people showing up on horseback and motorcycles. Farmers will show off their tractors. The high school band marches. A flatbed trailer carries the football team. Cheerleaders throw candy out for the kids. Homecoming King and Queen candidates are usually riding in convertibles, sitting on the trunk, smiling and waving. The parade ends with school busses, fire trucks, and police cars.

We were always let out of school about 1PM, so we could attend the parade. Afterwards, people would go home for a quick supper, then they would head out to the football field. Kick off at 7PM, so you better get there about 6PM to get a decent spot on the bleachers. I usually picked the 40 yard line about halfway up.

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JoulesMoose@reddit

They are real yes but they didn’t happen all that often I’d say probably 1-2 a year centered around a particularly “big” game. Homecoming game usually, especially if that game was against our rival school (my town had a very stereotypical East vs West highschool thing going on). If we’d been any good there’d probably have been another pep rally later in the season. My school didn’t particularly care about the football team (or at least the students didn’t) but pep rallies were a good excuse to get out of class so we were generally enthusiastic. The cheerleaders perform and usually there’s something with the mascot, l remember a video going around before I was in high school of a pep rally where our mascot cut the head of the other teams mascot with a chainsaw, but the football players usually just enter and watch. Spirit week we usually participated in because dressing up with friends is fun.

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RaspberryJam56@reddit

Yeah we had them in high school. I don't even know what the point of them was. I don't understand having school spirit for a school you didnt choose (college is different because I chose which one to go to). I would sit in a corner and read.

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Illustrious-Okra-524@reddit

Yep, my wife is a teacher, she has to go to one today.

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afdawg@reddit

Here's an example from my high school. This was from 13 years ago, but it's exactly as I remember from 13 years before that.

https://youtu.be/BM47nR3KFac?si=B5J0MbLyf8OhwHeK

Yes--that's "Jesus Christ Superstar" (not played for religious reasons at all but because a musical theater loving band director made it the unofficial fight song).

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sluttypidge@reddit

The band announced the pep rallies start by marching through the hallways and playing our fight song. It was so loud 😂

Our school was too small so I was in color guard and I also played the french horn (we used melophome for marching which is an entirely different instrument.)

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Maronita2025@reddit

Yes, prep rallies are very common in the U.S.

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AleroRatking@reddit

Depends where. They aren't a thing where I am in rural NY. But in big football schools they are absolutely a thing.

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ATLDeepCreeker@reddit

Absolutely.

Yes.

Twilightterritories@reddit

Yeah, I used to get in so much trouble as a kid, because I would refuse to participate and I would boo the team and flip everyone off as they came out.

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North_Artichoke_6721@reddit

Yes pep rallies are real. I always thought they were dumb and a waste of time but it meant we didn’t have to go to class, so it wasn’t all bad.

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DiscontentDonut@reddit

One of the few things Hollywood gets right. They're supposed to be for school pride. Mostly people are just happy not to be in class. Often it coincides with a big sport event like homecoming. Hence why the focus is the football players and cheerleaders.

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CPolland12@reddit

Texas here…

We had a pep rally every week during football season. During homecoming we also had a parade and bonfire.

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snarkwithfae@reddit

Oh yeah. In my high school our pep rally days are the day before Thanksgiving. It’s to cheer on our football team mainly, our biggest and last game of the season is against the rival team.

Each class would sing the school song to see who is the loudest (seniors always won of course).

Yup.

High school band will play music, cheerleaders cheer , and usually staff do some sort of activity for student amusement like pies in the face , dance offs etc. Usually a mascot for the school is there as well.

It's usually around homecoming.

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misagale@reddit

Real.

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BoseSounddock@reddit

Yes. They’re hype parties for a major sports event happening later that day.

Yes, it’s real, and my mom was a pompon team member and my brother and I played sports.

My husband and I hosted an exchange student from Finland who Loved Pep rallies and Homecoming week festivities and Skits and all the Fun that is traditional in American high schools!!

Powder Puff and Senior pranks and Spirit week are all fun too.

Americans love to have fun!

So much so, that now that I’m temporarily livin in London, the American social groups here are constantly half-full of non-Americans! When asked why, they say that their fellow country people abroad do not organize to have consistent fun activities, probably because doing it is a lot of unpaid work for the leaders and organizers who volunteer their time & effort.

Americans have a tradition of volunteering, and taking turns.

Here in Europe, nobody volunteers unless they are retired and lonely, and nobody takes turns.

For example, that Exchange student didn’t understand why Americans would ask her who her family was hosting. Her mother had been on exchange in the US as a teen, and encouraged her daughter to do so, too. But although they can afford it (they own a vacation home in Florida), they have never been on the Giving end of an exchange, only the receiving end-2x. And they don’t see anything wrong about that.

So if everyone had that view, the exchange program wouldn’t be possible.

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Idustriousraccoon@reddit

I grew up in CA and lived for a hot minute in Louisiana…the strange culture of obsessively propping up children with a modicum of athletic talent is deeply tragic. For most of these kids, their sports games in high school will be the highlight of their lives…it would be funny if it weren’t so desperately sad. If they put a fraction of the money and time they waste playing Lego pro sports, we might actually have functional schools and employable workers…but…here we are.

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premgirlnz@reddit (OP)

Thanks :) it is definitely something I’ve never seen in real life before - school spirit has a far more low key meaning here lol I was just watching this movie and having card board cut outs of kids heads was just wild, I just didn’t think something like that could be real!

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BlueMonday2082@reddit

Yes. Amazingly that stuff is real. Attendance is mandatory so it looks like more than %10 actually cares about sports at all.

This is training. It’s designed to make guys want to become football players so they can bang cheerleaders. It all ends with a CTE-induced murder-suicide 12 years later. USA! USA!

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logaboga@reddit

Pep rallies a huge thing. Normally to boost morale and school spirit for a school sports competition

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seecarlytrip@reddit

Yes absolutely. Ours are in the gym during school hours every Friday game day. Cheerleaders perform, step team performs, drill/dance team performs, football team pumps everyone up, and there’s even skits. It’s a lot of fun and encourages school spirit and camaraderie.

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AccountantRadiant351@reddit

They were mandatory at my middle school, like an assembly.

During high school, I successfully avoided ever going to one.

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Helenlefab@reddit

Yep. Didn’t usually have the posters and cutouts, but the cheerleaders would dance and they’d shout out whatever sports team had a big game that weekend. In my high school, we’d often have games as well where students from each grade could compete for a prize (usually like a $10 gift card or similar, but sometimes just bragging rights). These would be like basketball free throws or silly relay races. The principal would usually be the MC, hyping everyone up to convince them to have school spirit and come support the team. We generally enjoyed them because it got us out of class at the end of the day and sometimes would end a bit early, so we could get on the buses to go home a few minutes earlier than usual.

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