The Zootopia Rally was held on Friday, February 20, featuring energetic masters of ceremonies, Maxwell Tsai (10) and Kyra Lau (11), dancing teachers, and beautiful paintwork. Meticulously created cutouts, posters, and other decorations filled the gym, transforming the space into an environment that forcefully grabbed the attention of students. The leadership class had high hopes for this rally and their hard work to raise student engagement in Ayala.
“We are trying to get the rallies more involved, so it feels more exciting,” Leadership student Cayo Widjaja (10) said.
The purpose behind organizing these rallies is to give students and faculty their well-deserved recognition for sports, academics, behavior, and dedication. The Zootopia Rally brought to the spotlight varsity sports including Track and Field, Softball, Baseball, Boys Volleyball, and Boys Tennis. Others highlighted were the seniors of Drama and Leadership, along with the teacher of the month, Mrs. Mariana Jolly.
“Many students are unaware of what [other] students in Ayala have accomplished, so rallies are a great way to showcase [those achievements],” Kieza Martinez (11), the rally commissioner, said.
The class competitions, choreographed by students of Advanced Dance, were greeted with thunderous applause as they stole the show. Fierce and brilliant, the battles between the classes had the audience enraptured.
“Students were able to join [the dances] to showcase their school spirit,” Martinez said. “[The audience] was very engaged since they wanted to support their peers, and the music they used for the dances was entertaining.”
Mr. Randy Reams, the leadership advisor of only two years, also elevated the rally to new heights by bringing back an old tradition of ceremoniously raising new and updated sports banners. Utter jubilation could be heard from the Varsity teams as they were called to the center floor to celebrate their performance and legacy from the past year.
“It was a good way to get the students that earned those awards involved in the rally and represent them,” Widjaja said.
The rally concluded as leadership announced the highly anticipated reveal of this year’s prom theme, declared by the Junior class president, Charles Kam. Sounds of both displeasure and delight overtook the gym as he revealed the theme for the would be The Great Gatsby.
Despite the strengths of the rally, many students were still dissatisfied with the low student participation and rushed work of the leadership class. To many, it still felt lackluster for their tastes.
“I feel like they could have leaned more into the Zootopia theme,” Sebastian Concepcion (12) said.
However, discontent with rallies is nothing new. In the past, the purpose and community building behind rallies have slowly been lost due to students’ perception of the event as repetitive and monotonous. Without proper student engagement, rallies have failed to act as moral builders and have been seen as arbitrary in some students’ eyes.
“We kind of perceive rallies as we get a shorter day rather than actually engaging in the tradition of what a rally is,” Brandon Tsai (10) said.
Nevertheless, the Leadership class has taken great strides in the development of their rallies, and their work in the previous rally suggests they are turning a new page in this chapter of the program. The unique aspects littered throughout the event show the exciting potential for leadership to curate rallies like never before. For now, not dwelling on minor negative experiences and growing in their strengths, leadership has decided to look forward to the final rally of the year, saving the best for last.
“We are going to learn from our mistakes when we start preparing for our next rally,” Widjaja said.
