By ASHLEE GRAHAM – On Friday, September 29th, the 2017 Indiana Senior High pep assembly provided by SGA took place in the New Gym. An annual event that takes place before every homecoming football game, the student body gathered together to watch fellow classmates compete, get pied, and find out who this year’s homecoming king would be.
Following a fun-filled Spirit Week, the pep assembly got the student body ready for the weekend as they got to partake in a bunch of events and show their Indiana pride.
Junior Joey Bujdos said, “It was a great way to pump the students up for not only the Friday night football game, but also for the weekend of homecoming. The various activities and announcements of the Homecoming King were exciting ways to end the school day on Friday.”
After each grade level was called down to the gym to take their seats, Athletic director Mr. Lezanic kicked-off the event by reading off the fall athletic teams’ records, and congratulating all of the students/teams who will be moving on to higher levels of competition.
The events that SGA planned for the day included a hot dog eating competition, a basketball shoot off, and a blindfolded obstacle course race; seniors vs. freshman.and juniors vs. sophomores style. The team of seniors were Kenzi Kessler, Trajan Jones, Brent Johnson, and Jordan Smith. Their freshmen competitors were Roderick Jones, Tyler Gonos, Samantha Blystone, and Tanner Smith.
Freshman Trent White said, “I thought that it was really fun since it was my first pep assembly… we never did anything like this in the junior high. It got everyone excited and pumped up for the football game! The hot dog eating contest was really funny too.”
IOn the end the seniors pulled out a 2-1 victory (winning the hot dog eating contest and the hoop shoot), resulting in the freshman team getting pied. Making a great effort, the team of freshmen did win the blindfolded relay race, which took a lot of communication work.
Junior football player David McElravy chimed in stating, “It gave me confidence, especially when I saw my teammates Tanner and Roderick working together in the competitions. It also gave the football team a great laugh to see all the different people doing ridiculous things.”
To wrap up Spirit Week on a high note, the king’s court was escorted by the queen’s court, where a brief bio of each court member was announced. The members of the king’s court were: Vince Birch, Giaco Gentile, Tommy Arbuckle, Trajan Jones, Ben Bianco, and Eddy Chandler. After a drum roll, the King was finally announced by SGA president Mia Spadafora. Trajan Jones was officially announced Homecoming King for the 2017-2018 school year.
As the students exited the gym, the band performed “Cherokee” while the color guard, cheerleaders, and I-ettes performed their routines. Everyone left the gym with tons of excited chatter and smiles to end the successful Spirit Week, ready to take on homecoming weekend.
[Photo by Erik Puskar]
Photo Caption: “Principal McElheney gives a speech about the upcoming football game against Ambridge to get the student body fired up. ”
