RCHS welcomes their baby Cougars to campus
Baby Cougars raise their hand in excitement while chanting their graduating year.
Rancho Cucamonga High School hosted its annual eighth-grade rally to welcome incoming freshmen on Wednesday, Feb. 15 during second and third period. The event was hosted by ASB with special guests Link Crew and Student Achievement.
The rally took place in the gym, which was decorated by ASB. The gym was decorated with posters welcoming the class of 2027 on the walls as well as streamers and balloons lining the bleachers.
This event took little planning, according to ASB advisor Alexis Duncan. Duncan says the primary purpose of the rally is to get students “hyped” for the years to come at RCHS.
“It’s all about the spirit,” said Duncan. “We want to make sure they understand the Rancho way here is spirit, spirit, spirit, purple, purple, purple!”
Duncan also wanted to showcase campus culture by inviting dance, cheer, choir, various campus sports teams, and of course, Mr. Aaron Bishop, who is the leader of the RCHS Rooters, to teach the incoming baby Cougars the Spirit Clap.
The Spirit Clap is a Rancho tradition that dates back many years. At every rally, Bishop will ask each class to do the Spirit Clap. Classes will compete to perform the Spirit Class the loudest. It goes, stomp, clap, stomp-stomp, clap-clap, stomp, clap, class number! Teaching this Rancho tradition to baby Cougars helps them learn the spirit that comes with the school.
Incoming freshmen were greeted by ASB, SA, Link Crew, JV and Varsity Dance cheering for them as they walked in. RCHS Marching Cougars performed as they waited for the Class of 2027 to arrive. There was a slight delay at the start of the rally as they waited for Etiwanda Intermediate School to get seated.
Once everyone was seated however, the rally began with Choir singing the national anthem as well as the RCHS Alma Mater. Following Choir’s performance, Bishop introduced staff from the administration office.
Afterwards, JV dance performed “Don’t Play with It!” to showcase their program to the incoming freshmen.
Senior Elyse Turner, member of the JV Dance team, said that she was very excited to perform.
“I felt pretty good,” Turner said. “We had great energy and the eighth graders were loving it.”
Soon after, cheer rolled out their mats to perform. They brought excitement to the crowd and encouraged incoming students to join cheer. Cheer performed the same routine they did for the recent King’s Ball Rally.
Bishop then directed the freshman in the iconic Spirit Clap, getting them hyped for their upcoming four years. Current RCHS students attending the rally gave them an example of the spirit clap and the baby Cougars caught on pretty quick. Soon shouting their graduating year themselves.
The RCHS athletic director, Mr. William Burke, walked out and helped present the attending sports teams to get the incoming freshmen interested in joining one of the many RCHS teams.
RCHS counselors were also introduced and made an announcement to the students about the eighth-grade parents night being held on Monday, Feb. 27.
This announcement was followed by varsity dance once again performing the King’s Ball dance “Whuteva.” Which really brought out the spirit of the crowd.
With the crowd already hyped, band performed an acoustic version of “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce and USC’s “The Fight Song.” As well as demonstration of RCHS Marching Cougars drumline. They were introduced and played a cadence.
The rally ended with one last showcase of school spirit which was the “Give me an R” cheer. According to RCHS ASB President, Paul Masilang, the rally was a success.
“It was very exciting to introduce these new freshman to the RCHS campus and culture,” said Masilang.
The eighth-graders who attended also agreed. Malaysia McCook, a student at Ruth Musser Middle school, expressed how excited she was to attend RCHS next year.
“The rally was great,” McCook said. “I can’t wait for to join dance next year!”
Kassidy Coleman is a senior at RCHS, and this is her first year in journalism. She is the Assistant Editor for the school newspaper, The Cat’s Eye. Her...
Shareen Siddiqui is a senior at Rancho Cucamonga High School, and this is her second year in journalism. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper,...
