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Adorning a large faux-fur coat, Coach Garrett Mott performs Get Money by Yung Gravy during the teacher lip-sync battle. Maintaining the energy of the pep rally, many students rapped alongside Coach Mott to the upbeat song.
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Bringing the pep rally to a close, Loghan Smith ’25 and Isabella Shi ’25 sing the oma mater. SunDancers put much effort into this performance, rehearsing for days for a hip-hop routine with teachers.
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Enchanting the audience, Ms. Natalie Fischbach lip-syncs a song from the newest Taylor’s Version album , Speak Now, for her performance during the battle. Fischbach wore a Taylor Swift inspired gown and used a gold microphone, fully committing to her role.
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Posing with their SunDancer partners, teachers beam after performing a hip-hop routine. Each SunDancer asked one of their past or current teachers to dance with them during the pep rally, choreographing many partner moves in the routine to create a fun and uplifting performance.
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Dancing alongside the Cheer team, Ms. Linz energizes the audience with her lip-sync to Flowers by Miley Cyrus. Later in her performance, she tossed flowers into the crowd.
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Waving flashlights on their phones, students engage with Ms. Ochoa’s lip-sync to Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”. A slower paced song than the others, Ms. Ochoa brought a calm energy to the pep rally.
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Adorning sunglasses and radiating confidence, Coach Ramirez dances with the basketball team. An upbeat performance, the crowd sang along to Coach Ramirez’s lip-sync.
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Delivering an energized performance, the Cheer team spells out “Westwood” during their routine on signs. Perpetuating spirit, the cheerleader’s routine was a fan-favorite.
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Musical mirth echoed out of the Field House gym Friday, Sept. 15 at the second pep rally of the school year. Filled with a myriad of performances, students and teachers alike showed their Westwood pride.
Keeping up with tradition, Coach Travis Dalrymple began the pep rally by encouraging students to verbally show their spirit, the loudest side coming away with a pizza. Keeping the energy high, the cheerleaders dazzled the audience with a performance incorporating signs, poms, and flags set to an instrumental version of “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
“It’s fun to tumble, but I also just like bringing in the school spirit, ” cheerleader Delaney Johnson ‘26 said.
Following the cheerleaders, captains from various sports teams, including water polo, tennis, volleyball, and football, informed students about their seasons and upcoming games. Football specifically was preparing for their Battle of the Bell game against Round Rock.
“[The pep rally] really gets everyone excited to take the bell,” Ivy May ‘26 said.
After the sports updates, the SunDancers took the stage with teachers of their choice to show off their hip-hop skills. SunDancer Mattie McCrary ‘25 paired with French teacher Madame Kelly Harwick during the performance. In past years, teachers got two weeks to rehearse with the SunDancers for the performance, but this year they only had three days, in which they spent many early mornings practicing with their teachers as well as with the team alone.
“We learned the routine, I spent hours [practicing] at home, and then some [teachers] practiced in my room,” Madame Harwick said. “It was kind of rushed, so hopefully it looked good.”
Another pair of dancers was the father-daughter duo, Advanced Human Geography and Advanced World Geography teacher Mr. Josh Williams and SunDancer Lizzie Williams ‘24. For Lizzie Williams, this dance is more than just a pep rally requirement: it’s sentimental.
“It’s my senior year, and getting to do that tradition with him was really exciting, and getting to have that bond with him was my favorite part,” Lizzie said.
To Mr. Williams, the dance is also special. He says it’s a chance for people to just see teachers as human, regardless of their agility and ability to dance.
“The biggest challenge is that I can’t dance, so I always feel like a fool out there,” Mr. Williams said. “But I don’t really mind looking like a fool [because] it’s actually kind of fun from time to time.”
To close the show, some teachers took up their mics in an annual pep rally lip sync battle. The student body enjoyed performances from Ms. Brissa Ochoa, performing “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran, Ms. Natalie Fishbach, performing “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift, Assistant Principal Amber Linz, performing “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, Mr. Jesus Ramirez and Girls Basketball, performing “Kiki” by Drake, and lastly, Coach Garrett Mott, performing “Get Money” by Yung Gravy.
A fan favorite was International Barriculate (IB) Chemistry and Advanced Chemistry teacher Ms. Fischbach’s performance. Second to perform, Ms. Fischbach held a gold microphone and waltzed around the gym floor dressed in an elaborate purple ball gown that she created, lip-syncing to a crowd that was eager to sing the lyrics back.
“Last year I felt that we were missing something and that something was Taylor Swift, and as the sponsor of the Taylor Swift Club, I felt it was my duty to bring Taylor Swift to the pep rally,” Ms. Fishbach said. “Overall, [there] was a really good energy [at the pep rally]. This school year seems to be off to a really great start.”
The final performance came from Coach Garrett Mott, who rapped “Get Money” while dressed in a faux fur coat.
“I graduated from here, so pep rallies are close to my heart,” Coach Mott said. “It’s a lot of fun to get up there.”
The lip sync battle is a time-honored tradition that both teachers and students look forward to every year.
“My favorite part was watching everybody else. All five of us were so awesome that it was such a fun time to get up there and goof around and compete,” Coach Mott said.
The next pep rally will take place in the Field House Gym on Nov. 3.
