The rallies at Santiago have always been memorable, with performances ranging from a snake charmer to a trained dog catching frisbees. Our gym becomes layered with posters, lights, and colors decorated by each class committee–a jumbling mess of orange, red, green, and blue. Performers fill the floor and their minds race with anxiety, in apprehension of the coming performance.

With such dazzling arrays of creativity throughout our school-wide preparations for a rally, an ironic lack thereof is involved in choosing the rally’s theme. Disney movies such as: Toy Story, Aladdin, Peter Pan are just a few honorable mentions. There is a noticeable trend in past themes–they’re all Disney titles. Toy Story transformed to appear the western frontier, while Peter Pan featured a tangle of fairies and mermaids. Usually, nostalgic Disney titles spark childhood memories, but theme choice is almost predictable. If Santiago High School allows creative freedom, why not avoid a dull rally and embrace trial and error? Possibly new traditions will arise and brighten our much-dreaded rally days.

Generally, students have a love for all things old-timey. Inspiration is driven from the 50s blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe or the grunge style which we attempt to replicate with baggy Nirvana t-shirts. Students rarely participate in daily dress-up but perhaps if they are updated with current trends, student spirit will increase.

Themes correlating with eras and seasons give free roam and inspire students to participate on a day to day bias. For example, a “Splash into Summer” with days like lifeguard Monday with sunscreen noses, classic tacky tourist Tuesday, and a luau rally is a simple template to build off of. Santiago High School will inevitably showcase hula dancers and provide a Kona Ice® truck. Universal themes promote participation–so themes concerning seasons, eras, and current pop culture will be a great way to kick off the school year.

Recently, pop culture has brought back 90s fashion and has inspired a multitude of current trends. It seems obvious a theme such as “Time Machine” with back-to-back eras would be a hit, starting with 60s greasers and working up to Pink couture 2000s. It might be simple, but students love any throwback, and the music would tie it all together.

Similarly, a “Lights, Camera, Action!” rally featuring western, pirates, zombies, mafia, and Togo would showcase film. Western film would scatter cowboy hats and toy pistols among the crowd, while Pirate movies would draw from Pirates of the Caribbean with its timeless sea shanties, ruffled dresses, and finally the iconic eye patch and peg leg combo. Skip to Friday and a frat-like Togo party glitters the gym, performers dance as Greek goddesses, while blue light bounces across the walls.

Most recently, Santiago hosted a Nickelodeon™ rally with throwbacks to green slime and various Ke$ha songs. In my opinion, this has topped all other rally themes, leading me to believe future rallies will have much consideration for student interests as opposed to PG titles.

There is a multitude of themes but, “Splash into Summer”, “Time Machine”, and “Lights, Camera, Action!” are some of my top picks. Although these rally themes have all been done before in countless different fashions–adding our Santiago twist on it would create unforgettable memories.