By Reid Heavner,
Copy Editor.
The second week of the 2026-2027 school year, the school body participated in a week of school spirit days culminating in the annual Welcome Back Rally. These days included classic favorites like Monty Nerd Day and the annual class spirit colors day. The week was organized by ASB and followed a long tradition of spirit days in the lead-up to the Santa Rosa versus Montgomery football game.
A clear crowd favorite among the spirit days was Monty Nerd Day. A tradition spanning decades, the day featured panthers dressing up in red Montgomery colors with a nerdy flair typical of our Viking counterparts. At lunch, ASB organized the annual singing spectacle at the senior steps, inviting each class to come up individually for some karaoke amongst Viking caricatures, posters and a crowd of red-clad Panthers.
The week was organized to celebrate the lead-up to our annual rivalry match against Montgomery. This year, we lost the game in a nail-biter showdown on Viking turf. The Panthers battled hard despite the 14-7 result, even getting into the endzone to tie it up in the final seconds of the game before a holding call reversed the score and lost us the game.
The week finished with an electric Welcome Back rally, featuring senior Aliya Leon (ASB President) as emcee. The event encouraged participation from all Panthers in games and contests, many of which were fan favorites from last year. As ever, the seniors dominated, taking victory in nearly every game.
The rally also featured a special dance with Pandy, our Panther mascot, and three former members of the ArtQuest Dance program, which was shut down at the end of last year. Senior Caitlyn Green, one of the dancers who performed, said “it felt like a little glimpse back into what our lives used to be like and it was really nice to be able to have the chance to perform one more time.” The performance was a fan favorite and a classy way to include one last dance.
The Varsity Cheer team also performed at the rally. Despite only having a couple of weeks to prepare since the rally took place so early in the year, the team pulled off an impressive and well-executed performance. Senior Lucy Schneider, who performed at the rally, commented, “I knew this was going to be one of my last performances at this school. . . so I put in the extra work so it’d look amazing!”
Alongside the performances, the rally featured classic games and age-old traditions. The annual “we’ve got spirit, yes we do” chant was raucous and animated, hopefully a good sign for the spirit we’ll see this year. Games like musical chairs (won by the seniors), sumo ball fighting (won by the seniors) and box stacking (won by the seniors) were all crowd favorites with hearty participation. On the whole, the event was a strong showing for school spirit and engagement.
