With the newly implemented 2018-19 schedule, Friday pep rallies have been cut to twenty-five minutes. In previous years the pep rallies were forty five minutes

Pep rallies should be longer to ensure that all activities can be performed and groups recognized properly.

With such a limited amount of time, only a select number of groups are able to be recognized at the pep rallies. After a performance form the cheerleaders, Flames and color guard, the event is practically over before it even began. This leaves out several academic and athletic groups that could be honored, as well as activities to engage students. Though the time cut seems minuscule, it proves vital when so few performances are capable during the twenty-five minutes.

The teams who perform at pep rallies spend countless hours learning, practicing and perfecting their routines to show the school. Yet when the time comes, the event is rushed to ensure that all of these teams are able to do so. This puts a strain on the students who work so hard on their part, as well as the team as a whole. Longer pep rallies would eliminate this issue and make the pep rallies more fun for those who participate.

It is common for family members and friends to visit LHS on pep rally Fridays. This is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate just how hard students work on all extracurriculars, both athletic and academic. However, there is little incentive to make the journey when pep rallies are only twenty-five minutes long. This also concerns seniors coming back from their afternoon off periods. Many of these students might not feel the need to make the drive back to school for only a couple of performances.

Simply taking 2-3 minutes off of every class period would ensure that these changes could be made successfully. These couple of minutes would not make much of a difference to the school day, yet have a big impact on pep rallies.

The newly shortened pep rallies do not do the performers justice, as well as students in the crowd. Adding more time to the event would allow all active groups to be honored, as they should, and engage students in school spirit.