On December 20th, 2024, Somerville High School’s Student Council hosted its very own Peppermint Rally to ring in the start of winter break with some friendly competition! Held in the gym, all grades battled by playing mini-games.
During blocks two and three, the seniors and juniors competed against each other. Seniors were sporting all green, while juniors were rocking it in red. The first game they played was the difficult task of unwrapping gifts with oven mitts on, where two people from each grade raced to unwrap the gift fastest. Gifts included stuffed animals, toys, and sports equipment. The gifts were difficult enough to open as is, but trying to open them with mitts on was nearly impossible and extremely entertaining.
When asked about the Peperiment Rally, junior Tabitha Debraski, said, “It was entertaining how much people struggled to open the gifts… one of my favorites.”
Another fun competition the students played was human Hungry Hungry Hippo. The rules of this game were simple; one player lays belly-first on a scooter while the other person holds their legs and moves them towards the middle of the gym, where there was a pile of foam balls that the person on the rolling cart had to collect. A total of seven games were played during the rally.
The tournament ended with a wild game of tug of war. There were two rounds played. The first one was for girls only, and the next was for boys. Though the juniors put up a strong fight, the seniors went undefeated, and easily bagged the win. Once the juniors and seniors finished their game, it was time for the sophomores and freshmen to compete. Sophomores were decked out in blue, and freshmen kept it classy in all-white. Both classes quickly filled the bleachers and waited for the games to begin. Just like the seniors, this rally started with unwrapping gifts with gloves.
The sophomores took the win for that game. The closest game of this year’s rally was “Smoke in the Chimney” where students stood behind a cone and threw paper balls into the Can Jam “chimney.” For this game, the sophomores took the win again.
One freshman, Lucia Camuso, really enjoyed this game and stated,” It was hard to watch but overall funny!” The next game was musical chairs, seven people were picked to play.
Unlike the rest, this game was a close call. Towards the end of the game, the freshmen started to get out one by one, which eventually led to the sophomore win. The sophomore class defeated the freshman for this year’s Peppermint Rally.
A special thank you to the Student Council for planning and executing this awesome activity, and thank you to all of the staff and students who participated!