Some Fun Memories of Homecoming Pep Rallies!

One last picture of fall at the cabin!

Today while I was on Facebook, I was reminded of some really fun activities we used to do at Homecoming time for school pep rallies. This will be a blast from the past for many of you. I am referring to some of the lip syncs teachers (including me, of course) and students did. The Facebook post mentioned the Pointer Sisters and that triggered a memory of a lip sync we did at North Park High School for a pep rally that brought down the house! (It would be totally politically incorrect nowadays!) It was not done to make any kind of statement but just for fun and to fire up the team and the crowd!  We certainly did that!  The song was “I’m So Excited” and we had the makeup and costumes and dance moves to go with it!  It was so much fun and everyone saw a whole different side to some of their teachers! Anyone else remember that?  It was some time in the 1980’s I’m thinking!

Another lip sync we did was not the teachers but the first public speaking class I ever taught. I was “flying by the seat of my pants” teaching speech. I had taken Speech as a very shy sophomore in high school. Our teacher was a highly recognized teacher in Wisconsin and probably nationwide!  We all loved her. I tried to pattern my class after hers and I must say it was my favorite class to teach because it was so much fun and I could see my students grow and improve so much in one semester!  Early in the class I tried to do some “bonding” exercises to loosen everybody up.  It was getting close to Halloween and I decided we needed to do a lip sync just for fun in class. We picked Monster Mash and it turned out to be so much fun and really showcased another side to many of the students that we signed up for the lip sync at the next pep rally!  That was fun! 

I don’t think I could talk enough teachers into doing a lip sync in Owyhee but I do remember some student council kids doing skits at the pep rallies. When I was transferred to West Wendover it was a whole new experience in lip syncing for me!  You need to know a little background about the school before I talk about lip syncing in this town. 

Many of you know that Wendover is in 2 states. Utah and Nevada. The Nevada side is called West Wendover. For years there was one high school on the Utah side and one Grade School on the Nevada side. Both school districts (and states) cooperated on the students’ education. About 3 years after I started teaching in Elko County School District, due to financial and political issues, each state decided to build their own schools. Nevada built a new high school and Utah built a grade school. I was transferred to West Wendover to teach in the new high school!  It was a great opportunity and I was excited to outfit a brand new home economics room. There were some drawbacks!  The students were NOT excited to be ripped out of their Utah high school and all their friends!  Especially the seniors as you can probably agree. We had a lot of tears and hostility the first two years but the students did all big events like prom and homecoming at both schools.

 So, getting back to the lip syncing.  At the Utah school it turns out that was a huge event. Each class developed costumes, dance routines, a medley of songs and a big cast for the competition!  As you would expect, we teachers (who had only met each other a few weeks before) could not be outdone!  Everyone was expected to participate and we had a great young bunch of teachers who chose songs, wrote the script and organized our practices. The plan was to have one of our teachers, Jim Wintermote, relaxing and listening to tunes on the radio.  He would keep changing stations after listening a bit to each song we were lip syncing to. We must have had about 5 song clips including a head banger solo by our young female business teacher, Amber Watkins, who also had been an announcer at NASCAR races, a group dance and lip sync to Lean on Me ( I was in it), Some of the men teachers did a gangsta rap, and there were a couple others that were popular at the time but I don’t remember them and then, our grand finale which brought down the house was done by our female PE teacher, Karen Holmes, and our principal, Fred Gorton. It was “I Just Want To Be King” from Lion King complete with lion ears on head bands like Mickey Mouse ears!  The kids knew our principal well as he had been their principal and a teacher in grade school. They loved it!  It really got us off to a great start with the students who were pretty hostile for quite awhile but they saw us in a new light and maybe made school a little easier for all of us!  By the way, I believe we did not win the competition. I think the Junior class did that year. The lip syncs became a tradition after that for all the years I was there but they never were as good as that first one!

My thoughts always go back to my dance partner from that first lip sync in West Wendover. Her name was Julia and she taught social studies. Her room was right next to mine and we had many good times after that. A few years later she got married and retired from teaching at our school. Several years later she developed a brain tumor that was malignant and passed away. I still miss her!  Rest peacefully my friend and colleague! My other thoughts go out to the "head banger", Amber.  She got married, moved away and has two darling children.  Several years ago she developed breast cancer and so far is successfully battling it.  My prayers are with her and her family as well. 

These were the female teachers of that era.  Julia is standing on the right in back, Karen is right in front of her leaning over, Amber is in front kneeling on the left and I am in back second from the left.