Students get into the Christmas spirit

American’s winter rally entertains students with holiday-themed activities

AJ De Las Alas

Staff Writer

    The students of American High gathered in the gym on Friday, December 11 to watch a Christmas-themed rally filled with games and fun activities. The winter rally is an annual event at American because of the excitement it spreads to the students.

    “Our winter rally kicks off winter week and gets everyone in the holiday spirit,” American’s rally commissioner Holly Grezdo (12) said. “People should get excited for a lot of funny holiday games with student participation.”

    Many students on campus were anticipating the rally.

    “I’m pretty excited to see what’s in store for this year’s winter rally, since last year’s was pretty enjoyable” Sophy Peng (11) said. “I liked how small gifts were given to people in the crowd.”

    The rally commenced with Kent Giese (12) playing the Star Spangled Banner on his trombone. This was the first rally this year where a student performed the national anthem on an instrument.

    “I noticed that the anthem has been sung for many previous rallies, so I just wanted people to listen to an instrumentalist for a change,” performer Giese said. “I was extremely nervous and almost forgot how the anthem went at one point, but I was able to successfully play [the song] continuously without messing up.”

    As the assembly continued, the students watched a hip-hop dance performance by the Creator’s Universe club. Emcee Riley Neal (12) also introduced two games where students were able to participate. One of the games was supposed to mimic Santa’s sleigh and involved one student sitting on a wheeled platform while another student pulled a rope attached to the platform. The other game was a Christmas tree decorating contest where students placed lights, ribbon, and ornaments on tall students who acted as the Christmas tree. Towards the end of the rally, Katherine Berg (12) sang a snippet of “All I Want For Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey.

    The rally concluded with the Leadership class distributing gifts from the Make-A-Wish Foundation activity. A dollar was raised for the foundation whenever a student wrote a letter to Santa. This year, the school raised $2,200 – the highest amount American has donated to the foundation.

    Some students found the rally enjoyable.

    “The rally was really hyped up and funny,” Alyssa Wong (11) said. “My favorite part was when they showed Anthony Lopez’s (12) video from ‘Hawaii.’”

    Other students on campus were not as satisfied with the rally.

    “The winter rally was not as spectacular as the rallies I have witnessed before,” Anu Singh (10) said. “It may have been possibly because the other emcee was out of town; nevertheless, I am looking forward to winter week.”

*In the print edition, we made an error by calling the instrument a trumpet instead of a trombone. We apologise for the error.