More than 120 high school students transformed the Rancho San
Justo Gymnasium into a pep rally for making the right choices.
More than 120 high school students transformed the Rancho San Justo Gymnasium into a pep rally for making the right choices.
During the third assembly of the school year, a group of San Benito High School students displayed what the high school has to offer to Rancho’s eighth-graders.
The goal of the Feeder Assembly program is to encourage younger students to stay on the right track and make the right choices.
Signs decorated the gym, reading “High school is full of choices – make the right one,” “You miss school, you miss out!” “Notebook 99 cents, Pencil 25 cents, High school … priceless” and “Homework – just do it.”
SBHS freshmen class president Brian Rocha attended the assembly last year as an eighth-grader at Spring Grove School and said the program was motivating.
“I learned how much there was to do. I learned about the various clubs and ASB,” Rocha said. “It made me really want to get involved when I came to the high school.”
Rocha said he would not have done as much at SBHS if he had not attended the assembly at Spring Grove.
SBHS students organize and present assemblies at three schools – Marguerite Maze Middle School in December, Spring Grove and Rancho in February. SBHS participants attempt to reach the majority of the eighth-graders coming into the school.
The assembly started in 1994 as a gang-suppression device and now features students from the Associated Student Body, athletics, clubs, cheerleading, band and the Navy Junior ROTC program.
“It’s evolved into a wonderful show for the kids,” said Erica Robledo-Dickens, teacher and activities director at Rancho. “It’s filled with lots of information for students. It gets them pepped up.”
The emphasis is on making the right choices and succeeding.
“It’s taking the leaders down to the schools and showing the eighth-graders what the right choices are,” said Juan Robledo, student activities coordinator at SBHS and Robledo-Dickens’ father. “… The biggest heroes to those eighth-graders are high school students.”
The feeder assemblies focus on the Three A’s – academics, athletics and activities, Robledo said.
It also acts as a deterrent from bad influences, like the influence of gangs or drugs.
Robledo said that “bad kids” from SBHS will hang around Rancho and influence the middle school students, but the “real leaders” don’t have time to hang out there, which is one of the reasons for the assembly.
The assembly highlights getting good grades and being involved, things some eighth-graders lose sight of as they climb the ladder in junior high school, Robledo-Dickens said
SBHS sophomore Spenser Genesy is the junior high school coordinator and was in charge of organizing the assembly. The hour-long program included performances by the three cheerleading squads, a dance company, band and drama club. SBHS athletes showcased the different sports and students represented the more than 30 clubs on campus.
Eighth-graders were warned about maintaining a 2.0 grade point average and were introduced to SBHS’ zero tolerance policy on drugs, alcohol and weapons.
Eighth-grader Jason Andrade thought the assembly was “awesome.”
“It was fun to watch. It’s getting everyone pumped,” Andrade said. “It’s a good idea to get people motivated.”
Andrade plans on looking into an ASB position and playing water polo and baseball at SBHS.
Robledo described the feeder assemblies as an investment since both sets of students are missing instruction time.
The bottom line is that high school is what a person makes of it, said Elias Barocio, ASB president, in closing the assembly.
