Isaiah Coleman leads students from each grade level in a game of mattress surfing. Photo by Erika Capella '27.
On September 19, the Red and Blue Club led MFS’s first-ever student-led pep rally; by working with the Athletics Department, the club was able to hold a competition between the Upper School (US) grade levels, have a musical performance, and engage the faculty and staff to increase the community’s interest in school spirit.
Previously, pep rallies were held three times a year to honor the athletes from the fall, winter, and spring seasons, where each team’s captain and their teammates would introduce all their players on the Auditorium stage. This year, the sophomore and junior classes competed against the ninth graders and seniors in a variety of games, including trivia, sprints, and mattress surfing. The sophomores and juniors won with a score of 7-2.
Director of Athletics Isaiah Coleman said that the idea for this pep rally came from an Agenda meeting last school year about increasing sports participation, where students discussed the continuously low turnout rates on their teams and expressed interest in having a pep rally similar to other schools’.
“Myself and the [athletics] team [prioritized] the student experience this year, whether that be programming, boosting up options in the Fox Den, or again, having a pep rally,” said Coleman.
The Athletics Department met with the US early in the summer, solidifying dates for the fall and spring season pep rallies, as well as a staff and faculty versus student basketball game set to happen in the winter.
Aarav Shah ’26, founder and president of the Red and Blue Club, worked with Coleman along with a group of other juniors and seniors to brainstorm ways to make athletics and school spirit more present in the community.
“[The club’s] main purpose is to improve school spirit and to get people more involved with athletics, either by playing or going out to games and watching,” said Shah.
The club was established because “school spirit was lacking,” and Shah “didn’t want it to continue.”
Wynne Ay ’27 participated in the mattress surfing competition, scoring the final points for the sophomore/junior class team.
“This was a fun opportunity to have competitions [between grade levels] besides Spirit Week. It felt like a normal pep rally [like other high schools have] … compared to just going on the Auditorium stage [like previous years],” said Ay.
She also appreciated the cowbells and hand clackers that the athletics team provided to make the event more interactive for the community.
“Having the cowbells to cheer [the participants] on was a game-changer … So were Isaiah’s chants and his passion,” said Ay.
The faculty also participated in the games, which Ay noted made the pep rally even more “fun and a unique experience.”
Coleman emphasized how athletics is “the front porch” of any school, and how it is often the most visible thing when students travel to a new town or district — the MFS gear that athletes wear is a representation of the entire school.
He explained that athletics is a way to build community within the entire school.
“[Community] has been a priority for me my whole life, and just having a strong community at the schools that I’ve attended, the schools that I’ve worked at, was always a priority, but also a strength. So I want to bring that here and make it a strength at MFS.”