It Is getting close to an event many look forward to, the Slam Jam Rally. Our Slam Jam Rally is meant to get our student body “hyped up” for the basketball game against our cross-town rival. As students, we sit back, relax, and enjoy the rally. Have you ever wondered about all the work that is put in to make this all so good?
To learn a little about what goes on to prepare for Slam Jam, I first spoke to senior Nicole Sweet. I started by asking, “Is preparing for Slam Jam stressful?” Sweet said, “Preparing for Slam Jam can be stressful to make sure the timing runs smoothly, but my friends and I work together to figure it out.” To follow up, I asked, “What is your favorite part about preparing for the rally?” and she said, “My favorite part of preparing for the rally was being able to host rally tryouts. We got an early look at all the amazing performances from the clubs here at West. Also, the cute decorations for the gym!”
But Slam Jam isn’t all just decorations, we also get to see clubs perform, such as Bhangra, Latinx, Folklorico, K-Pop, and Royal G’s. To see how Royal G’s prepares for the rally, I spoke to sophomore Scarlett Magnan. I started by asking, “How long does your club rehearse to prepare for Slam Jam?” She said, “Practices are usually an hour long … two or three practices a week.” She then added that they started these practices back in the middle of January. Then I asked, “What is your favorite part of preparing?” Magnan said that she loves the excitement of it. She enjoys getting the costumes and putting all of the choreography together saying, “It’s really fun to see the final project.”
Another club that will be performing is Latinx. To see how they prepare, I spoke to President Mia Tello. I started by asking, “How do you figure out what performance your club will be doing?” Tello told me, “We try to incorporate as many cultural dances as possible. So, we try to incorporate as many Latin countries as we can.” I then followed up with, “Do you wish you had more time to prepare?” and she said that they do because they want to bring in as many people as they can. With the time frame, they don’t have as much time as they would like to teach new people the dances.
As you can see, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make Slam Jam happen. All of their hard work pays off, though. The decorations look great, thanks to leadership, and the performances are neat and fun thanks to all the rehearsal and effort these clubs put in.
