The  pep rally for the East-West football game was different from past rallies at Bellevue West because this year, students who took Advanced Placement (AP) classes and completed their respective tests were recognized. 

This acknowledgement has never happened so publicly at Bellevue West, and never at football pep rally.

On Friday, Sept. 6, AP students sat next to the football players and the band. The crowd clapped, cheered, and danced together as music blared out of the speakers. 

“It was really well received, I thought,” principal Kevin Rohlfs said. “Football players sitting right next to [AP students] and when it started they cheered and hooted and hollered. So it kind of made everyone else cheer for them too.”

Students did not have to pass their designated test to get honored. A main purpose of the National Math + Science Initiative is to increase the number of students taking AP exams. 

Rohlfs said including AP students as part of the pep rally was to celebrate everyone regardless of their AP test score.

“One of the things the grant wants us to do is celebrate our improvements in our AP testing,” Rohlfs said. “With that NMSI grant every student gets a $100 gift card for every test they pass. So the part of that celebration was we earned $30,200 in awards. From that we kind of  did a ballpark to see how much tuition was saved by all these classes students passed, and the number was almost half a million dollars.” 

Rohlfs said he wants to try to find a way to acknowledge academic achievements more at in the future, whether it will be in pep rallies or special breakfasts for high-ability students.

 “We’d like to find ways to recognize our academic successes as well our athletic successes but it’s just harder because you can’t see it,” Rohlfs said.