Avery Rosas

Despite extreme summer heat, Freshmen and Seniors (pictured) walk up the bleachers for the Pirates of the Caribbean kickoff rally.

As last school year’s Jurassic Park kickoff rally was a success filled with the spirit many have missed from the ‘before-COVID” rallies, students were anticipating the same energy for this year’s Pirates of the Caribbean themed kickoff rally. On Friday, August 18th, the United Student Body (USB) class held their Pirates of the Caribbean sports rally that showcased fall sports and AP High Five recognition from the previous school year. However, as the outside weather reached temperatures upwards to 100 degrees, the students and staff were directly faced with the sun that made the rally difficult to be enjoyable.

With restrictions still being placed on the gymnasium’s use for school rallies, the extreme heat and blackout theme on the bleachers led many students to hold mixed opinions. Because of the lack of optimal conditions, an ambulance was seen behind the bleachers as multiple students were reported to have fainted due to the harsh heat. 

“Especially during extremely hot weather, it is important for the students to always remember to stay hydrated,” the Ayala Health Office said. 

Despite the outdoor conditions, musical performances showcased during the class competitions were the highlight of the event. As class performance participation has fallen short in previous years, seniors Xenia Chen and Shirin Ghodousi performed the Tiktok popularized song “Until I Found You” by Stephen Sanchez. 

“The best part [of performing] was feeling the collective excitement and support from my fellow students, and my friends waving their arms while singing along,” Chen said. “The energy was contagious, and it was so rewarding to see everyone coming together.”

Although Ayala’s school spirit has wavered these past few years following the COVID pandemic, the USB class and staff have pushed for spirit day participation and promotional posts on the school’s @ayalabulldognews Instagram page. With spirit days including wearing pirate colors, stripes, bandannas, and bling, students were reminded each day through Instagram videos, stories, and posts. 

“Ever since I was in charge of all Ayala social media, I’ve been constantly trying to put more student and faculty voices, for example [Principal] Yarboi’s bling video,” previous Speaker of the House, Daniel Choi (12) said. “While our school spirit isn’t perfect, I’d like to believe that it is reviving as I make it my goal to highlight our students and faculty in a more expressive manner.”

As the rally came to an end, many were relieved to hear that they could go back inside into air-conditioned classrooms. Although rallies have previously ended with the tradition of the bulldog spell out, many students ushered from the bleachers to leave before being formally dismissed. 

As of now, USB has been able to confirm that all rallies going forward will be indoors. 

“You can go ahead and ask anyone in USB, we are all sick of outdoor rallies and we are continuously fighting for more fun spirit days and overall better events,” Choi said. “Come join us as a united student body because we have been working towards better school events since day one.”