Leadership students, namely senior executive counsel member Rebecca Malaret and members of her organizational agency, put on a winter pep rally Friday, Dec. 20.

The purpose of the pep rally was to kick off-winter beak, celebrate winter sports teams, and build hype before the rivalry basketball games against Herndon High School that night.

Seahawks dressed in white and watched from bleachers as the winter sports teams competed against each other in a blizzard battle for the spirit stick.

Basketball, dance team, gymnastics, indoor track, swim and dive, and wrestling each arrived in the gym in a dramatic fashion, but basketball earned spirit points for having the best entrance as determined by the amount of applause it generated.

The teams also had opportunities to win points when representatives competed in a series of challenges, including relays, obstacle courses, a frozen t-shirt contest, and a snow man construction competition that was judged by the faculty Snow King and Queen.

Team captains faced each other in an endurance contest which involved standing in buckets of ice water for an extended period of time. Captains from dance team, gymnastics, indoor track, and swim and dive managed to remain in the buckets for almost an hour, while senior basketball player Caitlin Jensen and senior wrestler Josh Forrest stepped out early.

Wrestling was ultimately named the winner of the blizzard battle based on the team members’ overall performance.

The pep rally also featured a combined dance recital between boys varsity basketball and dance team, performances by Fusion dance, drum line, and JROTC, and modified games of dodgeball known as ‘snowball fights’  between faculty and student teams.

The event closed with a dunk contest between senior Jojo Kidane, dressed as South Lakes mascot Seymour the Seahawk, and another student in a Herndon Hornet costume. After dunking the basketball, Kidane ripped off the Hornet’s stinger and chased his rival out of the gym while his peers applauded.