Carmel High School is Full of Spirit

Carmel High School has no shortage of spirit. 

Spirit Week started with a “Sleeping Beauties” Pajama Day and went on to celebrate something Disney-themed every day. 

 By the time the Pep Rally started on Friday, September 27, the students were pumped. 

Senior Class President Jake Patino and Student Body President Jorja Tompuri led the event, tossing Mickey Mouse headbands to the crowd that filled the bleachers in the school gymnasium.    

The Varsity Cheerleaders, Dance Team and Rock club performed to enthusiastic applause.  

“We have a little bit of a challenge for you,” Patino said. “Can you guess who the masked teacher is?”  

Then two mysterious teachers, in Mike and Sulley costumes from the movie “Monsters,” sang a karaoke version of “Love is an Open Door,” from the movie “Frozen.”  

But once they started singing, students quickly identified Social Studies Teacher David Zupan and Music Teacher Bryan Lynch. 

The pep rally tradition includes the Homecoming Video made by students in Tim Raney’s Video Production III class and Carmel Film Club. The Disney-themed video had the audience laughing out loud.   

This year, a pep rally activity started as soon as students came to school.  Every student got a bead necklace and students challenged one another to the game Rock, Paper, Scissors.  The loser had to hand over their necklace to the winner. The challenges continued through the day until the final Rock, Paper, Scissors duel was held between Principal Brian Piazza and Sophomore Dean Quinn in front of a screaming pep rally crowd.    

Dean won the final round and the crowd went wild.  

“This is the first year we did Rock, Paper, Scissors and it was amazing,” said Social Studies Teacher Kerry Hackert. “The kids put their phones down and talked to each other. It is nice to be back where we were before Covid.” Social Studies Teacher Jennifer Zupan saw the idea on social media and did an amazing job implementing this for the first time ever. The response was better than we expected. 

To put together an event of this magnitude takes time.   

“We started preparing back in June,” said Hackert, the advisor to the Student Organization, which runs the pep rally. “It takes a lot of time, but it’s a lot of fun. The biggest thing about the pep rally is that it is inclusive. It is about our entire CHS community.” 

It also takes experience to pull off such a success. Hackert, who has taught at the school for 24 years, has been running the show since 2007, which is the year that the tradition of the Homecoming Video and class spirit shirts began.