Peace signs go up in the air, as everyone poses at the end of the dance and students clap, laugh, and shout the word, “Freshmen.” They excitedly chatter amongst themselves about the other classes’ Spirit Rally dances.

Throughout the weeks leading up to Spirit Week, Surabhi Rao (9), Tamlyn Doll (9), and Hazal Gurcan (9) choreographed their class dance for the Spirit Rally, using the themes, that the class officer had drawn during a school meeting, of Australia, Oldies music, and Disco.

While Hazal was pleased with the choreography, she felt that the committee had slacked a bit during the process.

“I feel like our class could have a bit more spirit because not many people signed up for the dance, and not many [volunteers] showed up when they were supposed to practice,” she said.

She, along with Surabhi and Tamlyn, wished that more students would be proactive in contributing to the spirit events, and have “fun with them.”

Freshman Vice President Eddie Shiang (9), on the other hand, believed that the class has been spirited in the whole process, with many people signing up for the dance committee.

“The thing that was so awesome about this was that many people signed up by themselves,” Eddie said. “During one class meeting, we [student council] passed the signup sheet for the dance, and a considerable number of our classmates were interested in taking part.”

He mentioned that rehearsing the dance seemed “daunting” at first, but became easier and even more enjoyable with everyone contributing to it.

Eddie and the rest of the freshman class council have organized the rehearsals and the routine, in order to perfect the dance. They are thrilled with the results of the dance, and thus believe that all the time and effort was worth it.

For many of the students, the best part of the dance was working collectively as a class. Earlier in the week, Surabhi, Tamlyn, and Hazal made a video that gave instructions for the dance routine. The video was fairly successful, with many of the dancers being able to perfect the routine outside of the set rehearsal schedules.

The members of Student Council organized a morning dance rehearsal on Thursday at Rosenthal Field and handed out Hawaiian leis and Krispy Kreme donuts to those who attended.

“I have known how hardworking and enthusiastic our class has been, so I wouldn’t expect anything less, said Eddie. “Our class was ready to give it a go, and we were proud of what we were able to accomplish.”

Looking into the future, Eddie hopes that the class of 2017 will participate in all of the upcoming spirit events.