On Dec. 1, students gathered in the gym to kick off the annual Color War tournament with a pep rally. Many students dressed in their team colors – freshman in red, sophomores in blue, juniors in black and seniors in pink – to show their unity and spirit. The overall consensus was that it was an entertaining school-wide experience.
“I think it was pretty fun,” said senior Gerson Bernal. “I’d say there was a lot of energy.”
The event began with a cheerleading routine to get everyone excited.
“The freshmen and sophomores were noticeably very energetic,” said freshman Andrew Viray.
After the sports teams and Color War captains were introduced, the teams competed in four games: the human knot, musical chairs, hungry hippos and a scooter relay. The sophomores won the human knot, where eight students from each team had to hold hands and pass a hula hoop down the row and back, without letting go of each other’s hands.
Then the freshman won both musical chairs, though it was very close, and hungry hippos. In hungry hippos, pairs of students had to pick up items while riding a scooter and bring them back to their teams, with each item having its own point value. Out of the four games, hungry hippos was overall favorite.
“I enjoyed hungry hippos, I liked being pushed around and carrying a 10 pound weight while doing it,” said junior Anthony Schuster.
Sophomore David Barrera agreed that it was the best game.
“I liked hungry hippos, because it was goofy and silly,” said Barrera.
The pep rally ended with the final game, the scooter relay race, which the juniors won.
Throughout the games, students in the audience cheered on their teams.
Blue Team captain, sophomore José Reynoso, acknowledged that the Red Team showed the most spirit.
“I heard them chanting all throughout the games and it seemed like they were doing a good job supporting their classmates,” said Reynoso.
Despite the success of the pep rally, some students see room for improvement.
“It was fun, but some of it felt like filler,” said Viray. “Sometimes the rally would have these moments where we would be sitting and not much happening.”
And Reynoso thought some people took their competitiveness a little too far.
“Yes we are competing against each other, but I don’t think we should be so hostile towards our older or younger peers,” Reynoso said. “At the end of the day it’s just a fun event and not an actual war.”