On Oct. 23, 2025, the ACHS Dual Enrollment Leadership team, led by seniors Isabel Craine and Malcolm Goines, put on a pep rally in anticipation of the homecoming dance on Oct. 25. Before the pep rally, the DE Leadership class also organized a Titan Exposition for future students.
This was the first pep rally ACHS had conducted in six years. Students were encouraged to show off their school spirit at the rally by wearing colors coordinated with their grade levels. Freshmen wore black clothes, sophomores wore white, juniors wore blue and seniors wore red. Throughout the week leading up to the dance, DE Leadership put on games and competitions between grade levels during lunch. The pep rally was no different with all activities including a competitive aspect that was intended to show off Titan pride, a pointed move by DE Leadership.
“I think it’s vital to get students not just excited about homecoming, but excited about the Titan spirit,” said Craine, who was the lead of the Titan Expo and pep rally DE Leadership Committee. “Especially because we haven’t had a lot of it in the past with all the changes to campus and administrators.”
Craine said the decision to put on this event came from the lack of pep rallies at the school since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I met with administrators multiple times to go over this event in the possibility that it could actually happen, because we haven’t had [a pep rally] in six years,” said Craine.
She continued to pitch the idea to administrators, and her hard work paid off with the approval of a combined event.
“Eventually we presented our full idea to them of a Titan Expo and pep rally on the same night,” said Craine.
To start off the festivities, Goines introduced the ACHS football team as they ran out to applause. A noticeable addition to the rally was Tony the Titan, the iconic mascot, wearing a throwback costume.
Once the football team had made its way across the gym floor, the cheerleaders stepped up to perform the chant “AC Let’s Pump it Up.”
Subsequently, the competitive games began. Starting off strong was a wig snatching competition that involved little kids from the crowd, all grade levels and even King Street Campus Administrator Ashley Carter Sinclair.
“We wanted [the pep rally] to be really competitive so everyone could see how much we actually care about being Titans,” said Craine. “We also wanted things that included a lot of people as a whole, so nobody would feel left out.”
The juniors, decked out in their blue, emerged victorious with the most wigs snatched.
Next, the marching band drum line performed for audience members followed by a relay race with teachers and administrators joining in the mayhem. The relay involved a three-legged race, followed by a hula hoop pass and lastly, a wheelbarrow run. At the end of each challenge, students had to pop a balloon by sitting on it to move onto the next step. The seniors ultimately won the hectic race.
Next, DE Leadership students set up musical chairs and took volunteers from the crowd. A group of seventh graders attending the rally won the round.
Senior Jeanela Macedo, who participated in the musical chairs, was feeling the school pride in the air.
“[The pep rally] was so hype and it made me have a lot of school spirit for my class and my school,” said Macedo. “I would say especially for Alexandria City, we have so much history and background. It’s so hard not to be proud of this school.”
Along with Macedo, sophomore Inass Fathi believes in the power of school spirit.
“I think [school spirit] is really important,” said Fathi. “I think it’s one of the only unifying factors that sort of brings the whole school together.”
To end the night, the juniors and seniors played tug of war against the sophomores and freshmen, and little kids played against the teachers.
The goal of this year’s pep rally, according to Craine, was to show the unity ACHS has during the homecoming season.
“To me, homecoming means celebrating the Titan culture, not just the students who currently go here but everyone who has ever gone to ACHS, and everyone who will come here in the future,” said Craine. “It’s past, present and future students celebrating the Titan pride.”
In the end, the senior class won the most points overall, but the school spirit, passion and innovation shown by every participant proves that this will be a tradition for years to come.
“We don’t really have a lot of events that unite everyone as a whole,” said Craine. “It shows us that despite all of our differences, being at a school of 5,000 people, we all share this place, we all come here every day and we all should have Titan pride.”
