Fall Rally North

CCY, Piedmont Hills, D12E

As we sat in the cramped bus filled with our spirit gear, backpacks, and our Key Club spirit, we were moving closer and closer to Vallejo. The bus ride took over an hour, but we arrived earlier than the division buses (since we took our own bus). We had more people joining us for FRN this year, making our spirit sessions seem promising. As we stepped into Six Flags, Annie, Lori, and I were walking around asking Key Clubbers from across the district for their Instagram contacts. It's technically not stranger danger if they're a part of Key Club, right? As we waited for Six Flags personnel to let us into the Chabot stadium, we were all planning how to run to the stadium to get the best spots. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to run, but we were able to speedwalk! We were very lucky as we got the best seats, the one right in front of the stage where the judges could hear us directly. I saw lots of other divisions, including D12S and D12W. The amount of organized columns of bright colors made the stadium seem colorful and extremely spirited. I remember right before the first round of the spirit battle, Shreya, Jackie, and I were trying to figure out our plan for getting people to be loud, and placing the loud cheerers scattered around the column. Once the spirit battle began, I used up my whole lung capacity and brought out my full spirit. I could feel my voice draining away just from the first spirit session. When the second-round divisions were announced, I was beyond surprised when D12E was on the list. For the second cheer, we did the new cheer called Cupid, which was definitely a creative cheer. I was really proud of being able to see all of the division members loud and spirited as a team, and being able to work with Shreya and the other spirit coordinators leading up to FRN. It was a 12/10 experience and I would definitely come back again if I was able to. The rest of the afternoon I went on daring roller coasters and really fun rides, which spending $24 on a regular plain burger and a box of dry french fries. The best last-first FRN experience!