Pep rallies are the staple of the start of any new sports season. Students of all grades join together in excitement, showing off their spirit and cheering on their friends on sports teams. For athletes, it’s even more exciting. It represents a chance to show the whole school all of your hard work. Students, look forward to the pep rallies. It’s so thrilling to see the green, black, white and what unfortunate color the freshmen are given. The silly nicknames that the captains give the seniors on their team is always entertaining. However, this year, there were no nicknames allowed on the field.

The nicknames individualized each senior on their last year on the team and made them feel special, as well as helped the crowd get to know each and every one of them. Not to mention they were a crowd favorite, and could be really funny. This is why most students were confused and disappointed when the sports captains introduced their seniors using their real names and not nicknames.

Rumors have been swirling around that the reason for the nicknames being abolished could be because of parents who may not be okay with their children hearing these inappropriate references. Whatever the reason, they will be missed.

“Some people were making up inappropriate nicknames, and because it was in front of the whole school we decided to use normal names instead. It was a number of students [who used inappropriate nicknames] and it happened enough where we decided to go back to the old system,” principal Jennifer Baker said.

However, ss long as the names aren’t offensive, nicknames should all be allowed in good fun. Sometimes in the past, captains included phrases or words that were slightly inappropriate or related to drugs or alcohol. It makes sense that teachers or parents could have complaints about the names, but why couldn’t they allow nicknames without such content?

Appropriate nicknames would keep students engaged and retain teacher’s approval for pep rallies to come. Even though this year’s pep rally was missing this fun tradition, it was entertaining and fun nonetheless. I don’t think I’m the only one looking forward to the winter pep rally to see if it follows the trend.