Building Gator Buddies

Each Quarter at Everglades City School, we have a Pep Rally to celebrate our students’ achievements. This year, Mrs. Whitcomb, our media specialist, brought forth a fantastic idea to our secondary student government. The idea was for middle and high school students to pair up with elementary students and sit with them at each pep rally. This way, our students can build connections with each other, and our elementary students can have older students to look up to. And so, the Gator Buddy Teams were born.

Each middle and high school grade chose an elementary grade to pair with and came up with a name based on an Everglades animal for each Gator Buddy Team. The teams are the Otters, the Chokoloskee Chickens, the Stingrays, the Tarpons, the Crabs, and the Spoonbills. Mrs. Whitcomb purchased the shirts, fabric markers, and paints for each student, and on Friday, October 16, each team got together around the school to collaborate and decorate them.

The students had an incredibly fun time designing the shirts with their partners, and each student will wear them for our Pep Rally on Friday, October 23. The loudest team at the start of the Pep Rally will get inflatable boom sticks and megaphones, while the rest of the Gator Buddy Teams will get pom poms! The Gator Buddy Teams will remain the same throughout the school year during each Quarter Pep Rally; however, which team gets the inflatable boom sticks and megaphones will change depending on who is the loudest and proudest! Parents and Guardians are invited and encouraged to come to our Quarter Pep Rallies to cheer on our students for their accomplishments.

Stay tuned to find out how our first Pep Rally went with our Gator Buddy Teams.