The student body celebrated with their first pep-rally of the year in the main gymnasium on Sept. 11 before sending their boys off to play against their school rival, Celina.

The preparation and spirit of Argyle pep-rallies are not a one man job; all portions of the school have to contribute, and organizing a “black out” pep rally is not small feat. The Argyle Eagles had their rally to support Eagle football, volleyball, cross country, and recognize Corbin Johnson and his battle with Aplastic Anemia.  With all of this “in the dark”, people were a little nervous at first about how the pep rally would turn out.

“Every good thing has a hiccup,” senior cheer captain Micki Hirschhorn said. “The fact that the pep-rally was in the dark was an aspect of change and that’s the goal for this whole year. Like adding new things, and getting the crowd more involved.”

The pep-rallies have to be sponsored and prepared by someone. The cheerleaders pay for the pep-rallies with no additional sponsoring from the school. Not only do they raise the money from fundraisers, but they also spend about two hours each day after school to practice their performances during prior to the pep-rally. For instance, they prepared the Black-Out the Bobcats pep-rally for almost a month, getting the equipment needed, and learning their cheers, stunts, and routines forwards and backwards.

The music in the background played at every pep-rally does not magically appear, it is requested. It is memorized and rehearsed repetitively with Mrs. Johnson and the six time state champion Argyle Eagles Band.

“We have most of our music memorized,” Haley Emerson, one of the drum majors, said.

The Black-out the Bobcats pep-rally was specifically for the Eagles football team against Celina Bobcats. The football team walked out together, and, as they entered, the students got wild and pumped.  The hope is for this energy to spill over to the game later in the evening.

“Whenever we are on the field and we see the student section get really hyped up really gives us energy,” senior football captain David Bearden said.

Not only are the pep-rallies there to acknowledge the football players, but they also bring awareness and celebrate other organizations. The pep-rally this past week also celebrated cross country. Two of the girls’ cross country captions, Avery Austin and Maddy Haynes, informed the student body of when the next cross country meet was.

Overall, the pep-rallies are made for Argyle students and their organizations to show everyone how much the school supports their people. The pep-rally is a way for all the students, no matter what interest, to get together and celebrate students and their accomplishments. Letting the specific sport organization celebrate and feel cared about by the student body lets them know, win or loss, they have a student body behind them.