On Dec. 6, the winter prep rally was held in the gym at Aliso Niguel High School. There was no Wolverine+ that day, so students attended the rally with their third-person classes, divided into two sessions based on the location of their classroom hallway.
The rally kicked off with a lively performance by the drumline, followed by other performances from the cheer team and the dance team. The choir Madrigals also performed, singing the national anthem and “Jingle Bells.” Alongside, the teachers and staff performed a dance to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas.”
The rally featured several fun and competitive events, including a “push-the-snowballs” balloon contest between the boys varsity basketball team and boys varsity wrestling team. The girls and boys varsity soccer teams faced off in a relay race, where the boy’s team ended up winning.
Nahla Lemtouni (11) states, “I personally thought the pep rally was good, especially with the choir singing. One thing about the rally that would make me dislike it more was the fact that I feel like there wasn’t really that much effort put into the whole thing because it was shorter than usual and 90% of it was dancing, which I think really made the experience along with the choir ten times better. The games were also boring as well.”
There was a musical chair contest, featuring students from Dance Appreciation, dance team, and cheer, which was won by the cheer team. The musical chairs event was, however, interrupted by the Grinch, a student dressed as the iconic character from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
One of the most anticipated announcements of the day was the reveal of the winter formal theme: Tangled, inspired by the Disney movie “Tangled” featuring Rapunzel. The rally also included the announcement of a flash sale for winter formal tickets, although the winter formal court for each grade was not revealed during the prep rally.
The rally also celebrated the winter sports season by announcing the varsity captains for the winter sports. The sports included are girls soccer, boys soccer, boys basketball, girls basketball, boys wrestling, girls wrestling, color guard and drumline.
Additionally, the upcoming dress-up days for the week were announced, which followed the Tangled theme of winter formal. Monday will be pajama day, Tuesday will be dress in pink or purple day, Wednesday is best hair day, Thursday is dress as a Disney character and Friday is dress in any Aliso spiritwear.
Laurel Thurman (11) shares, “I really like that the pep rally seemed to follow the general Christmas and holidays theme, it was really fun to watch! My favorite parts are the performances from the different teams like cheer and dance.”
Generally, the winter pep rally follows winter break during the start of second semester. However, since winter formal is earlier, the pep rally was also held earlier during the Christmas season, which gave the opportunity to make a Christmas themed pep rally. With the contributions of various ANHS students and staff, the winter pep rally during the 2024-2025 school year was a success.
