In a high school not so “far, far away,” students celebrated their good grades on Friday with food, inflatable obstacle courses and appropriately themed space music at Foothill’s spring Renaissance rally.

Every semester, the Associated Student Body puts on a rally for students who have earned at least a 3.0 grade point average.

The rally used approximately $2300 dollars funded cumulatively by ASB’s fundraisers and provided a free lunch and T-shirt to all students on Renaissance. The students were also able to participate on an inflatable jousting ring, obstacle course and slide, as well as throw balls to drop their teachers into a dunk tank.

“We put on the Renaissance rally so that we celebrate and acknowledge students for their success, and we are at our record high for people being on Renaissance this year, and this is the way that we formally award them for getting those grades,” said principal Joe Bova.

Math teacher Rick Villano says that the rally helps relax students.

“I think the ideology of rewarding grades and excellence creates a culture of being proud at Foothill, and also helps relax students when they are stressed with work… The mood today was really light and smooth and I think the students do genuinely appreciate that,” said Villano.

Freshman Ashley Amaladhas enjoyed the rally and thinks it’s beneficial to the students as well.

“It’s a great idea to reward students for their hard work, and I enjoy it because it is actually a lot of fun,” said Amaladhas.

“I really do think it motivates people, because not having people participate is mean, but it really works in making people more motivated to achieve Renaissance every semester,” added sophomore Mario Solis.

This semester’s rally reflected an outer space theme because of Foothill’s trademark nerdy culture.

“This is my last and favorite Renaissance rally. It is space-themed, and we are playing ‘Star Wars’ music all around. It’s awesome, and it goes well with Foothill’s nerdy-ness,” said ASB senior class president Stephan Mariani.

Sophomore Jake Woods agrees with Mariani.

“It’s great, I mean everyone knows the references to ‘Star Wars,’ and you can’t really not like the space-y theme,” said Woods.

However one of Foothill’s Spanish teachers, Steven Perfect, suggests that there are flaws in the Renaissance program, as it may prevent hard-working students from participating.

“A student could have lots of school spirit, but could have a learning disability and doesn’t achieve at a certain level with a certain grade point average, and is that fair?” asked Perfect.

ASB representative Adam Braver argues Foothill’s FLIGHT program helps but doesn’t solve the problem.

“For any student not on Renaissance, including anyone who struggles with a learning disability, we have FLIGHT to help motivate and help students achieve Renaissance, but it is something to be improved upon,” said Braver.

Bova states that anything at Foothill, including the Renaissance Rally, is subject to change drastically or just for improvement.

“The only real constant at Foothill is change,” said Bova.

Credit: Natalie Smith & Josh Ren/The Foothill Dragon Press

Credit: Emiliy Chacon & Bridget Parrino/The Foothill Dragon Press