On Tuesday, Nov. 18, Blue Valley had its first indoor pep rally in almost two years. It was also the first indoor pep rally that the freshman and sophomore classes had ever been to. The assembly was held in the gym after 6th hour Tuesday afternoon.

Several awards were presented during the rally. 

First, BV’s marching band passed their 1st place “hardware” to Mr. Bacon. The marching band achieved Grand Champion status in the 2021 Kansas Bandmasters Association competition on Oct. 30, 2021.

The second trophy that was presented to Mr. Bacon was the combined Shawnee Mission East-Shawnee Mission West traveling sweepstakes trophy, won by BV’s debate team on Nov. 13. The trophy is the oldest traveling trophy in the state of Kansas, and this marks the fourth time that BV has won it. 

The debate team is also in the top 64 teams in the world in the International Public Policy Forum debates. The team will go on to Louisville, Kentucky in December.

The journalism department showcased four awards won during September and October. Junior Ayesha Khan and senior Sofia Hughes placed first in September News Page Design of the Month. Khan placed third for September News Page Design of the Month, Hughes placed third for September Portrait of the Month and senior Charlie Trent placed third for October Portrait of the Month. 

The football team’s 2021 All EKL 1st team included seniors Nick Herzog on offense, Michael Allen and Hayden Essex on defense and Sterling Lockett and Charlie Weinrich on special teams. 

The 2021 All EKL 2nd Team was also composed of seniors and included Greyson Holbert, Michael Solomon, Andrew Long and junior Andre Davis on offense, and seniors Jack Cecil, Clayton Kavlick and Charlie Weinrich on defense. 

The honorable mentions included seniors Ben Marshall, JD Hinman, Levi Bittel, Charlie DeZube, Sterling Lockett, Brody Wadman, Zak Svendsen and Ben Vasquez, and juniors Logan Heisdorffer, Michael Andry, Alec Wombolt, Ben Dalke, Alec Swarens and Gatlin Samuels. 

Michael Allen won the 2021 EKL Defensive Player of the Year.

The tennis team also had a very successful season. The doubles team of seniors Sree Mylavarapau and Christina Stone were crowned EKL and Regional Champions as well as 3rd at State. 

The doubles team of sophomores Maia Bajich and Katherine Stone won 6th at EKL, 5th at Regionals and 10th at State.

The JV team went undefeated at the Olathe Northwest JV Quad, Sion JV Tournament, Emporia JV Tournament and were crowned JV EKL Champions. 

Finally, the varsity tennis team was crowned Emporia Varsity Tournament Champions, placed 4th at the Kansas City Invitational out of 15 teams, 4th at Varsity EKL, 3rd at Regionals and 6th at State. 

The assembly also included games and activities put on by BV Tiger Pride. The games ranged from stacking jars of peanut butter to promote StuCo’s peanut butter drive (Nov. 15-19) to a rendition of Hungry Hungry Hippos.

 Tuesday’s assembly will likely be the first of many post-remote-learning indoor pep rallies to come.