All week, Student Council prepared for the pep rally on Jan. 23. As the first pep rally of 2026, Student Council officers decided on a throwback theme, basing the pep rally on 2016 trends, music and fashion.

“Everyone seemed really excited about the 2016 trend,” Student Body President Molly Aldrgidge, 12, said. “[The officers] were talking through ideas and themes and thought ‘Wait, that’s kind of fire.’”

Student Council officers came up with the idea for this pep rally with the influence of a new TikTok trend where influencers call 2026 ‘is the new 2016.’

“At first I didn’t think 2016 was that important,” Aldridge said. “Then I started thinking and I realized that actually was the era. I loved it.”

In the week leading up to the pep rally, Student Council filmed school extracurriculars like golf, basketball, soccer and drill team participating in a campus-wide ‘Mannequin Challenge.’ This viral trend from 2016 forces people to freeze and act as mannequins as the camera pans around them.

“I’ve noticed that in past pep rallies we don’t get the students very involved,” Aldridge said. “So we’re trying to incorporate them more. We also bought fidget spinners to hand out in the bleachers and things like that.”

Social media posts and videos helped promote the pep rally and make the students excited to participate.

“For the first time we’ve had different clubs involved in our social media,” Aldridge said. “I feel like a lot more people got excited versus past pep rallies. Seeing everybody get so hype on social media is my favorite part.”

Teachers have also been getting involved, participating in trends, doing the running man in videos and submitting pictures of themselves in 2016.

“I love it when the teachers get involved,” Aldridge said. “It’s just so fun seeing the teachers when they were younger in 2016.”