The energy of 2,000 students engulfed the overwhelmed eighth graders who held on to the rails of the shaking stands. Sixty-five feet from the eighth graders, seniors began their first goodbyes to the experience the eighth graders got their first taste of. The iEagles pep rally, designed to recruit junior high students into Richardson’s magnet, was the last of the year.
“We want to give them a feel of all the activities that our school has to offer them and one of those being our pep rallies,” biology teacher Jeff Bivins said.
The pep rally showed some of the school’s performance groups like the Eaglettes, Cheer squad, Eagle Guard, Legacy, Hypematic and the Step Team. It also gave eighth graders a preview of the Theatre Magnet with a skit from “Shrek” The Musical.
“I definitely love the diversity,” senior Ashley Eisenkramer said. “We all have really great spirits and everyone’s always having a great time.”
Teams including basketball, track and field and golf boasted their recent accomplishments, encouraging the junior high students to come to Richardson.
“We’re a very involved school – a very hyper school,” Bivins said. “In our pep rallies we get to celebrate and have fun.”
Escorted by magnet students, eighth graders will visit the different magnets, sit in on classes and watch student presentations about the benefits of attending the magnet program.
“I want to see the courses they offer and the daily life in school,” Christopher Dunn, an eighth grader at St. Patrick Catholic School, said. “Right now, I’m interested in engineering. I like building stuff, and I like programming. The robotics magnet in Richardson is my favorite magnet so far.”
Unlike students in regular schools, students in magnet programs like Robotics, Law, Health Science, Communications, Culinary and Fine Arts get to explore specific careers in class and through numerous internship programs.
“The special things about our magnets are all the programs they offer, the scholarships that they can offer to these students,” Bivins said. “Kids who are interested in going into particular fields can really dive in and see what that field has to offer here.”
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