Hi guys!
Spirit would love to hear feedback about the Welcome Back Rally. Let us know what worked and what didn't, or any new ideas you have to make rallies amazing :) We'd also like to know what you thought about being in a rally with only one overarching theme instead of the usual 4 sub-themes for each class.
thanks!
-Spirit
I personally like having the usual four sub-themes because it gives the students something to dress up for outside of just their respective class colors. I think that most people were more confused as to why this change was happening than resentful.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I had to comment about the rally was the sound problems. It was difficult to hear almost any of the dialogue going on, partly because of the background noise but also because of the mic problems.
This is just a very insignificant side note, but maybe we can tell classes to start cheering after the Valks start? None of the Valks could hear the counts and weren't able to coordinate until the music started (from what I saw, but I may be completely wrong).
^_^ Otherwise good job!
I liked the overarching theme and it's understandable that it would be hard to split the theme "Carnival" into 4 subthemes, but I think splitting it into 4 separate themes allows more creativity and diversity with the decs. Also, one class going off on a tangent with the theme (2017 carnEVIL) even when the theme was overarching will probably encourage classes to find subthemes in the future, which might destroy the point of just one theme.
ReplyDeleteSound, as usual, was difficult to hear due to the screaming. I honestly think there's no resolution to this, but I think that there was one faulty mic (the black one) that should be checked out.
One thing I've noticed is that 2020 and 2018 tend to overflow the bleachers and stand in front, until the COs or advisors shove them back. Perhaps we could set up chairs and caution tape to ensure that cheer and valks have enough space to perform.
There were some mix-ups with the game results–I don't recall seeing 2018 finishing first place for the first game but it sure felt good to place first B) HAHA. Let's just try our best to make sure judging is fair and classes are following rules for games. Also I don't think games should be included in the judging, it's more based on luck than skill.
Great way to start off the school year Spirit! (:
I liked the overarching theme idea, and I thought it was a good idea for the first rally since it gives the freshmen a better idea and exposure to rallies. I think the subthemes aren't that bad of an idea? It is sort of like homecoming where they took the theme to their own perspective
ReplyDeleteThe mics were a little bit hard to control (rip us @tech). The cheering for dances made it hard to hear (past experience performing at rallies) but i agree, i don't know if it is possible to solve it because it is more like a tradition.
I think the caution tape is a very good idea because I know at other schools they also do that to keep the middle of the gym clear. They also decorate the entire gym like overarching theme or lynbrook themed, maybe we can try that? (like balloon arches on the ceiling or idk.
The rally was really fun, i heard a lot of positive feedback from friends and first time rally goers.
Update: just asked some people and they said that the song choices for the sing along game was hard because they were stopped at places that people didn't know the lyrics to and we should play it like during the chorus or a morepopukar song
DeleteWay to go for the first rally of the year, Spirit!
ReplyDeleteI like how the overarching theme of the rally worked. However, I didn't feel that it brought a lot of excitement and creativity to the rally. Looking at all the decorations, they're all somewhat similar and classes probably found it hard to showcase their own colors and ideas among the sea of other classes. There's only so much you can do with one theme. I understand how a overarching theme may alleviate some stress and allow classes to reunite as a school for the beginning of the year, but when it comes to the Homecoming rally, sub-themes would be a better and viable option over one central theme. Each class already has a sub-theme for the Homecoming skit under one overarching theme. Sub themes worked pretty well for classes to show what they got. Despite having every class try to do decorations under one central theme, there will always be the odd one out. In this case, the class of 2017 was somewhat differentiate than all the other classes. Sure, they're adding some spice to the somewhat boring decorations from other classes, but this just goes to how one overarching theme might not be a viable option for future rallies.
Regarding the tech aspect of the rallies, I feel like it went pretty smooth. There's this one speaker that was giving the tech commission so much trouble and they're starting to feel that it needs to be replaced soon.
Overall, the rally was fun and I'm glad that a lot of students enjoyed it. Looking forward to the Homecoming rally!
I like how the overarching theme can bring a sense of unity between all the grades. However, like what Francis said, the decorations looked really similar. This may be what you were going for, but personally I think it is nice to identify with a class theme rather than just class colors.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rally itself, the microphone was having sound problems which made the plot hard to follow. The script seemed a little repetitive whenever a sports team was introduced but that's understandable. I was also wondering why the initial cheer, where all the classes are introduced, was in a different order than it usually is.
Amazing start spirit!!
We debated a lot about whether or not to mix up the order of the first cheer. Ultimately we decided to go with it because of memories of ours and every other freshmen class not realizing that when their class was mentioned they had to cheer. We wanted to show them what they had to do :)
DeleteGreat job spirit for an awesome first rally!!
ReplyDeleteI liked how we had one overarching theme and each class decorated according to that. In the future, I think having subthemes would be nice, just so that classes can get more creative and specific with their designs.
There was a bit of trouble hearing what was being said, since everyone was so loud. If the mics aren't enough, waiting until the cheering dies down to continue would allow people to hear whats being said.
The two games you guys decided on were a lot of fun and super high energy! As one of the people judging games, it was a bit confusing. I didn't know when to come out, where to stand, or who to judge.
Throughout the rally, the crowd kept pushing forward, no one listened when they were told to back up to the black line. Like some people mentioned above, I think it would be a good idea to put caution tape up so that people know the boundaries. It might make it difficult to fill up the stands and come during the games and sport introductions though.
I can't wait until the homecoming rally!!
I think this rally was great. It was fun, interesting, and the overlapping theme was great for a first rally
ReplyDeleteSound could have been improved, I understand that could've just been the mic failure. However, I think you guys should wait a bit till everyone is quieted down. Maybe tell the CO's that they need the classes to quiet down while you guys are talking. I think subthemes in general will be better. It would clearly distinguish each class.
I agree with Allison, we SHOULD use caution tape, this way people won't crowd too much, maybe only allow CO's infront of the caution tape for hype reasons.
Hi Spirit!
ReplyDeleteI don't think the one umbrella theme impacted the rally in any major way! It made the first rally a little bit more unified and less of a segmented competition, so I liked that for the rally that introduces freshmen to the concept of rallies.
I know that you were all a bit rushed with the rehearsal practice this time around, but it seemed like at times a few more practices could have really helped (ie the introduction for recognition for VIP vikings at the very end). Also, it might be really helpful to have a physical runthrough for games the lunch before so that volunteers actually know what to expect! During the first game, there was a lot of silence as volunteers from ASB and those from the classes got organized. Second game was better as Evan explained the rules while everyone was setting up :)
Tech is going to work on sound and do our own reflection so hopefully we'll have better sound quality for the Homecoming rally. One thing to note, we would have appreciated if Spirit let us know a bit earlier about finding songs for the final sing-a-long :)
That's all I can think of for now! I think this was a great introduction rally for the freshmen and a good start to an even greater year for you all :)
I had a few comments on the promotion of the rally I forgot to mention!
DeleteNext time you should make sure to submit announcements for the Friday before and Monday the week of for the spirit week! That's just something small that can help notify students. Also, maybe think about some incentive or competition to encourage participation in spirit days? Lynbrook in the past few years hasn't had terribly strong participation in spirit days and I think this year is the year we can change that!
What if each 3rd period needed to tally the # of people dressed up in their class (double points if the teacher dresses up) and the LEG rep submits that -> we tally the results and top x homerooms get a prize. Or maybe even turn participation into a little bit of a class competition? It doesn't necessarily have to factor into the rubric, but if you spent a minute just pointing out how many people used the #lhs2017 or #lhs2018 hashtags on instgram photos I think people would feel more inclined to join in. Going off of that, maybe some sort of social media competition? What spirit determines to be the best photo for each day gets a prize, the photo is featured on the slides at the beginning etc. Just a couple of ideas.
Lastly and I think most importantly, we should be certain that we are communicating spirit days to staff! Especially because this is the first impression that the students get of staff - if we can communicate well with staff and get them to dress up, new students may be more inclined to follow suit. It seemed like the vast majority of staff just didn't know what the spirit days were?
Those should be all of my thoughts :)
GOOD JOB on a fantastic beginning of the year rally!!!!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the rally and the overarching theme since it was the first rally and the idea is to get the freshman know what a rally really is, so I think this provided great exposure. As always there were sound issues, but I think it would be good if we had subtitles in the video, so people can atleast understand what the story is, if they can't hear it.
Maybe have it like a presentation, so you would basically have a slide for the dialogues for the story and after that a slide for each performance, so like one slide for valks, one for VIP Vikings, one for each game and some photos in between.
LOL hope you understand what I suggested, or just come talk to me during breakout and I can clarify! :)
I personally liked how the themes were the same for all the classes, especially for the first rally of the year. I also really liked the video/story plot! The music was also much louder this time, which is good because then it's not drowned out by the screams of everyone there.
ReplyDeleteLike all rallies in the past, it was really hard to hear anything the MCs were saying. Maybe have subtitles on the presentation screen so that people know what is going on :)
Overall though, great job spirit!!
Great Job Spirit on your first Rally!! wooo 2017,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the overarching theme was great in which not every single class had a specific theme which took some stress off each class, at least personally, and was good in general.
I thought it was, although a bit weird, great that you let the freshman see how other classes cheer before they did,and gave them easier songs to sing to.
I honestly don't have any other feed back that has already been said, so overall you guys did great!!
Keep it up Spirit
I think this post might be a little late, but I didn't really get a chance to give you feedback so I'm going to write up a late post.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, good job!!!! It was an amazing rally and I really enjoyed the atmosphere you created!
I mentioned this in class, but it would be nice if after the song game (which I really really really like), you could have a song for the whole school to sing together. This will make the rally seem more united! Or it could be at the end, after the results are announced and that way no class would feel left out and all four classes will feel united again despite the ranking.
Other than that, I really like the theme and the video! Your video was easy to understand and even without subtitles and I didn't really hear the voices, it was still clear and easy to understand. Thank you so much for that!!
Other feedback are already mentioned above.
Great great great job!!
I really liked the overarching theme because it made the rally atmosphere seem very united and the decs were really good! I also liked not putting the freshmen first was a good change, even though it seemed a bit weird.
ReplyDeleteA couple things I think need improvement are sound quality and in general just being able to understand and hear the script. Subtitles should definitely be considered for the next rally (subtitles for video and script) because it will never be quiet and will undoubtedly be hard to hear for some students. There was some sound issues regarding the microphones, so they should be tested during rally setup to fix any issues.
Other than that, I thought the rally was great and really represented the positive spirit of all the classes at Lynbrook!
Comments from here on out, for this post, will not be graded.
ReplyDelete