The annual tradition of Berkley High School’s Homecoming week was from September 27th to October 1st. The energy of the whole school was high throughout the week leading up to the pep assembly on that Friday.

Because of COVID-19, the assembly was held outside, at Hurley Field. This meant that the entire school walked from the high school to Hurley. At 2:45, the marching band led the student body from the school to the field.

This year’s pep assembly was masterfully hosted by seniors Lindsay Dudovitz and Fanta Cisse.

The first event of the assembly was the national anthem sung by the talented senior, Grace Watson.

Next, the marching band played the Berkley Fight Song which got the energy high in the student section.

After that, the games started. The first game played was the class tug-o-war. Dudovitz, Cisse, and student leadership students asked those who wanted to participate to come down from the stands. The freshman and sophomores competed first. With some struggle, the sophomores came out victorious. Next, the juniors and seniors competed. The seniors won after a good effort from both grades.

There were also other games, such as a watermelon eating contest and musical chairs.

Then, the cheer team performed a routine. The routine ended with senior Allison Mann being lifted. While she was in the air, senior football player Sethe Pollard and other members of the football team conducted a homecoming proposal. She said yes!

After that and the dance team’s performance (which was done to a mash-up of many popular R&B songs), the staff relay race was underway. The teams included Mrs. Emery, Mr. Waldman, Mrs. Burroughs, Mr. Cierpial, and Mrs.Byron, Mrs. Church, Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Coleman. Each team had to go through a series of tasks: eating a fruit-roll-up, putting on various clothing items, running with a stack of school supplies, stacking Solo Cups, and finally throwing a water balloon to another teacher at varying distances.

The pressure was high as Mrs. Emery’s team started off behind the other team, with Mrs. Byron. When Mr. Cierpial and Mrs. Church got to the cup stacking, Church was able to go onto the next task quite quickly, but Cierpial struggled. Cierpial finally stacked the cups as the other team then struggled with the water balloon toss. In the end, Cierpial made it through the water balloon toss in one try and won the relay with great enthusiasm from the students.

Encore! then performed Harry Styles’ song “Treat People With Kindness”. The student section loved it!

At the end of the festivities, the senior homecoming court was announced. Unlike any other year, two girls were announced as homecoming king and queen! Kaila Welcher was voted king, and Jade Jackson was voted queen!

Overall, this year’s pep rally was a great success!