Flush with the tradition, eighth graders from feeder schools Canyon Vista Middle School and Grisham Middle School toured Westwood the day before fall break on Friday, Nov. 21.

As the eighth graders arrived in the morning, the Peer, Assistance, Leadership, and Service (PALS) organization and Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) volunteers led student groups on a campus tour through the cafeteria, atrium, and library.

“We displayed works people have made, [such as] patches we’ve embroidered, stickers, and T-shirts,” Graphic Design and Illustration program representative Aliya Yu ‘27 said. “We got to put out one of our applications, Adobe Illustrator, for kids to try and draw with. Seeing all the different stuff offered at Westwood is crazy. [I remember] seeing Warrior Design when I was an eighth grader really sparked my interest.”

In a change from previous years, the touring future Warriors visited a rotation of stationary booths hosted by various schoolwide organizations rather than touring individual classrooms at the school.

“Last year, I was in my first block directing class during the tours, so my experience was [directly] with groups touring the black box,” PALS tour guide Annie Curtis ‘26 said. “We didn’t tour individual classrooms this year, but I wish that we had because I know that when I was in eighth grade, I was interested in [seeing the rooms].”

Following an hour and a half of tours, the Class of 2030 gathered in the main gym for a pep rally, mimicking the high school experience with Coach Travis Dalrymple emceeing and student performances from the cheerleaders, SunDancers, and Warrior Pride.

“We performed one routine from the blacklight pep rally and another other from our UIL [University Interscholastic League] routine,” cheerleader Erica Nielsen ‘27 said. “[Given that] we only had two days to prepare, I think it went really well.”

To show off popular student groups, the Diabolo Club, formerly known as Chinese Yo-Yo Club, performed to a medley of pop songs before the cheering crowd.

“Since we had to prepare for the performance pretty last minute, my teammates Daniel [Schuler ‘26], Richard [Xue ‘26] and I were under a lot of pressure to perform difficult tricks and were more prone to mistakes,” Diabolo Club President Sam Yarbrough ‘26 said. “However, our performance was great and the audience loved it. We typically don’t receive this much hype, but the audience must have been really excited to tour Westwood and gave a huge applause.”

Coach Dalrymple concluded the pep rally with a new game involving teams of students rolling a surfing student on a table across the gym floor, followed by the annual card trick.

“I thought the game was really fun and I really hope we get to do more games like that [at pep rallies],” Nielsen said. “I was kind of sad I wasn’t the one surfing, but I think the kids enjoyed it.”

The eighth graders concluded their visit in the middle of sixth block, returning to their respective schools with ideas on activities to pursue in high school.

“My favorite part of the day was talking to the club representatives at each booth and realizing how different some people’s experiences are at Westwood,” Curtis said. “I’m grateful for how I’ve spent the last four years, but I realized just how many other opportunities there were and I really hope that the 8th graders take advantage of such awesome, unique programs.”