Word: pep
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...faced the tension between roots and wings: how to keep kids safe and grounded; how to let them stretch and fly. But after so many shocking headlines, the adults are edgy and tempted to try to stamp out teenage rebellion and cruelty and popularity contests altogether. At a Webster pep rally, for the first time, individual team members are no longer introduced by name--to keep the cheering and booing from getting personal. Cheerleaders are picked by a panel of outside professionals, the football team rotates its captains so no one is favored, and anyone can show...
...bleachers vibrate, and the floors shake under the feet of 1,200 stomping, screaming kids crammed into the gym for a late-morning pep rally. They're celebrating the first winning football season in years--and the more immediate promise of an early release from school on this perfect fall afternoon. It is at once a moment of old-fashioned ebullience for students and unspoken, post-Columbine worry for teachers and staff. Principal Voss paces the floor with her walkie-talkie. Scores of teachers and student monitors are assigned sections of the gym, alert to everything from fights...
...there's a limit to the school's influence. Key Club and Math Club have no pep rally, and student athletes are still celebrities among their peers. They're the ones who bring the parents to the stands on Friday nights. They get their names in the newspaper and get more pictures in the yearbook. Nearly every Thanksgiving since 1907, Turkey Day has capped the football season for Webster and nearby Kirkwood, drawing 7,000 fans and a large local TV audience for what's billed as the oldest high school football rivalry west of the Mississippi. (Webster leads, with...
Though the school may have stopped naming all the players in the pep rally, there are still raucous introductions for the few who are called to the floor for today's toilet-paper race, in which the players mummify their coaches. Among the loudest cheers are those for one football player, Bobby Granderson...
Bobby carries his charm onto the floor of the gym as he passes out a rose to each member of the girls' softball team, whose coach has `recently died. Then he strolls over to principal Voss and hands her a bouquet. When the pep rally ends and school is dismissed early for the day, Bobby passes a freshman sitting on the steps outside. He says, "Hey," and waves. To be recognized by a jock like Bobby is a big deal to the kid, who beams. It is part of Bobby's charm. It brings him fame. Bobby climbs into...