In order to kick off the traditional festivities of HOG Week, the first messy pep rally in the Varsity Gym took place last Monday.

“To prep for the Messy Pep Rally it normally takes us all year,” Committee Head Abel Barron said. “The day of is pretty hectic, trying to get all of the ingredients organized, and we had to make sure nothing was overlooked.”

This first pep rally involved blended McDonald’s, eels, a “Wonka” sandwich, and much more for the Battle of the Classes (BOTC) participants to endure.

“It is extremely hard to to eat the different things but not because it’s nasty,” sophomore Trey Bolton said. “Sometimes what we have to eat is good, (but) it’s just hard to swallow.”

Junior Lola Ogunsuada describes the challenges as overwhelming due to the lead that the juniors already had on all the other classes at the beginning of the pep rally with 20 points.

“The feeling you get when they call your name and you see the stuff on the table that you have to eat, your heart sinks all the way to your stomach,” she said.

Because of the numerous activities, the committee heads get help from the people in HOG Crew, who stand and help judge the BOTC participants in the competitions.

“When (someone) was eating the sandwich (and) gagged, I had to walk away,” senior Jorge Johnson said. “Sometimes I feel bad because I want to warn them, but I can’t. They signed up for torture.”

Barron said that planning the messy pep rally can be extremely demanding for him, if he’s not organized.

“It can be stressful because you have the crowd going wild, (so) we have to make sure BOTC is running efficiently and we have to make sure HOG crew is in their positions for the next game,” he said. “To run the pep rally, you have to really be on your toes.”

Although the activities can be hectic, Johnson remembers what this week is really about.

“I barely go to class because I’m freaking out and then I get behind in school, but I try to remind myself what the bigger picture is,” he said. “Seeing everyone happy and all the money raised warms my heart and makes me want to work harder.”

The competitions were close and the seniors won the majority of the games. Many of the seniors tried as hard as they could to catch up to the juniors, since they had a deduction of five points, which started them off with only two points.

“At first it was really nerve wrecking because we only had two points and everyone else was in the teens, but we all agreed that we were going to come back in the games and remember who we were doing it for,” senior Martinique Woodley said. “It’s awesome and a great feeling to know how much we came back in just one day.”

Although the other classes fought hard, at the end of the Messy Pep Rally, the juniors had the lead with a total of 39 points.

“I felt pretty confident because ever since we came here we’ve been so close to winning every year,” junior Adriana Tapia said. “I feel like we have a good shot at winning.”