en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:23:34 GMT 15 By Ebony Turner

Students and staff alike have lingering question of how to promote school spirit throughout the student body in fun and interestiing ways. The creation of the Fall Outdoor Pep Rally arose from these concerns. This was the first pep rally that Principal, Michael Durso has allowed outdoors. English teacher Lynn Mantello, Spanish teacher Michael Bain, and social studies teacher Jessica Abeshouse worked together to make the project run smoothly. “We wanted the students to be aware of the many opportunities available here at Springbrook, and to celebrate the sports during our fall season,” Mantello said. The Springbrook Leadership Council (SLC) and its subcommittee, the Springbrook Spirit Committee (SSC), organized the fall sports pep rally as well as the winter sports rally that took place last school year. Student Government Association (SGA) president, senior Jennifer Barillas, is a member of the SLC and helped organize and bring the idea to Durso. Former students, Jonathan Nwosu and Pritha Shah, who graduated last year, came up with the idea of having more in-school gatherings for students so that all students are able to attend and support many of the different programs within the school. Previously, the only pep-rally was the annual after-school hang-up, which students must pay to attend.. “The parents want to be more involved in the school; it makes our community look better and it helps make things happen.” One of the major factors in making sure the pep rally happen was getting it approved by our principal. “It was not as difficult as we thought getting Durso’s approval because we had the support of the staff, and the parents, and more importantly, the students,” Barillas said. The pep rally included the unveiling of a new spirit stick and demonstrations from all of the fall sports teams. The varsity and junior varsity fall sports teams and groups, from football to cheerleaders and tennis to Poms alike, all performed. “What we hoped students would take from this pep rally was just to get involved in our school and to support our fall sports because they have been very successful,” Mantello said. ]]> Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:49:00 GMT