On November 5, students at Foothill anxiously watched the clock as they waited for the end of their fourth period class and the beginning of the fall Renaissance Rally.
Held twice a year, the Renaissance Rally rewards those students who maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 with games, jolly jumps, and a brand new Renaissance t-shirt.
As the students were dismissed from their classes, a long line formed at the front the Black Box in order to receive half of a Corralles burrito. The line only began to diminish towards the end of the extended lunch.
What gathered the largest crowd and the greatest laughter was the dunk tank. Some of the teachers who participated were Richard Geib, Wendi Butler, John Weldele, Josh Dinkler, and at the end of the lunch, senior Ian Mariani got into the tank as well.
The first teacher in the dunk tank, Geib watched as his former and current American Experience students took the opportunity to get their revenge on their AP US History teacher. Butler playfully kicked water at the crowd before being dunked not only once, but twice.
However, the students were unable to easily dunk Weldele. After many failed attempts, one student ran over and pressed the button himself, dunking Weldele for the first time and causing an uproar of laughter from the crowd.
Dinkler got into the dunk tank with a confident look on his face. He sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the sun while the students continuously failed to hit the target. It wasn’t long before one student hit the bull’s eye, dunking Dinkler, who came out of the water with his arms in the air as a sign of victory.
“I felt lonely… cold…” joked Dinkler when asked about how he felt while sitting in the dunk tank.”It was fun. It was an honor to be in the tank…but tell the students who hit me that I’m going after them. You know who you are.”
On the other side of the quad, a quiz game hosted by Anthony Villa, Foothill’s Geometry and Calculus teacher, was also taking place on the stage.
Students first roll an oversized die and the resulting number determined which subject the question would be pulled from. The subjects were math, English, history, and science- the specific classes varying depending on the grade level.
Once students rolled the die and answered the question correctly, they had the choice of either taking your prize or going for the bonus question for a bigger prize.
“It’s all or nothing.” Villa stated.
With prizes such as Bop-its, Play-doh, popcorn, even the students without Renaissance shirts were eager to participate.
Villa sarcastically said, “Don’t sound too enthusiastic, thank you” when a senior got up on the stage and not so excitedly stated his name and grade.
The Bungee Run, which had two students try and outrun each other to place a ball on the furthest end, and the inflatable slide also gathered much interest.
Foothill’s ASB worked very hard to prepare this event for the students by making posters, setting up tables, cutting the burritos, etc.
David White, junior ASB student, said, “I thought it went well.” His favorite part was “trying to sneak the burritos into the office” without being noticed by any of the other students.
With a successful end to this fall’s Renaissance Rally, Foothill students will be anticipating what’s in store for them in the spring.
