Headmaster Deborah Holman held a meeting with Athletic Director Pete Rittenberg, the deans, the Powderpuff coaches and the junior and senior girls on the Powderpuff teams on Thursday, Nov. 15 to discuss Powderpuff’s role at the pep rally.

In years past, both the junior and senior teams choreographed  entrance routines that they performed at the beginning of the rally.

Following a proposal made by Rittenberg to move the entrances to the end of the pep rally, those present at the meeting voiced their feedback and objections.

“I think it was a good opportunity to discuss expectations, what we hope to get out of the rally, and what the rally meant for Powderpuff girls,” Rittenberg said.

According to senior and player Emma Poole, some administrators raised the concern that having the entrances at the beginning makes it difficult to transition into the rest of the program because the crowd is often rowdy directly following the spirited entrances.  Holman also expressed her desire that everyone stay for the entirety of the rally.

In reference to this goal, Holman brought up an instance a few years ago in which many people left the rally during a speech about the football team because they had already seen the entrances, according to Poole.

The meeting also served as a larger discussion of the relationship between Powderpuff and the football team.

“She asked us straight up what was the relationship between Powderpuff and the football team at BHS,” Poole said. “I think some people translated that as she wanted us to support the football team more, but I really think she wanted there to be greater emphasis on spirit towards BHS as a whole instead of a division between blue and red.”

According to Rittenberg, he and Holman met the next day and decided not to make any changes to the place of the entrances.

“We imagine everything is going to be fine,” Rittenberg said of the rally.

The decision to not change the placement of the entrances met great enthusiasm by players such as seniors and players Leah Warren, Arianna Nisonoff and Kate Rhodes.

“It feels nice to know that they trust us enough to let us have the entrance,” Warren said.

After the meeting, Dean Diane Lande said that at pep rallies all athletes need to be given recognition, but feels that the attention has not been evenly distributed.

Rhodes said that the concerns raised that the entrances take the focus away from other teams at the rally are unfounded.

“It’s a tradition to have it be an entrance,” Rhodes said. “It doesn’t distract that much from the other sports because they still have a big cheering section, and everyone still supports them. The decision to keep it was a good idea.”

The meeting itself received mixed reactions.

“I’m just glad that they listened to us and our thoughts that it was something that was important to us,” Nisonoff said. “It felt nice that Ms. Holman took that into account.”

Junior Alejandro Brown views the questioning of Powderpuff activities as an attack on longstanding school tradition.

“She said,” Brown said, referring to Holman, “that ‘principals have a jump reflex,’ in one of the earlier issues of the Sagamore. She said that she wasn’t going to do that. She was going to get a feel for it. And now she’s having that jump reflex herself without actually seeing Powderpuff.”

Junior and player Sonya Bhan reiterated Brown’s sentiments.

“The new headmaster hasn’t really seen how powderpuff works at Brookline High. We’re not hating the seniors, and the seniors aren’t hating the juniors. I don’t think there was a need to cancel the entrances. That shouldn’t be up for discussion at all.”

This examination of Powderpuff begs a larger question concerning the state of school spirit at the high school.

Senior Casey Bivens said that the high school lacks a sense of spirit beyond Powderpuff.

“A lot of people are trying to create logos, and they’re selling the t-shirts,” Bivens said, “but Powderpuff is the one time when the school really comes together as like, a giant group and really celebrates. I think the entrance in the pep rally is having all of the grades together celebrating BHS.”

Although Powderpuff separates the student body into red and blue, Bivens does not view this as being divisive.

“When we’re competing against each other, it’s still a Brookline High School win,” Bivens said. “I know that it would probably be better if we could bring the entire school together as a whole, but I think that by bringing the junior class together and bringing the senior class together we can have a cohesive upperclassmen group.”

Brown, like Bivens, also believes the school is yet to unify under a single identity outside of the single day. According to Brown, this is partially a result of the diversity of activities offered at the school.

“BHS is really good at being really broad,” Brown said. “But we are so broad that we have so many options that people don’t know what to do.”

While a larger sense of school spirit may not fully exist yet, this void does not detract from the significance of Powderpuff for junior and player Mia Svirsky.

“This is tradition,” she said. “This is Brookline High School.”

Anna Parkhurst can be contacted at [email protected].