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McCallum held its second annual spring sports pep rally on Feb. 3, and it had a distinctly unusual color scheme. While there was plenty of the usual hues — McCallum blue and grey — there was also a lot of red.

The red wasn’t from a Travis rebel invasion to our campus but rather from participation in the Go Red for Women national initiative, which raises funds and awareness to combat heart disease in women.

The pep rally coincided with National Wear Red Day. In 2003, the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute created the annual day to call attention to the fact that half a million American women die of heart disease every year.

The issue came home to McCallum earlier this year when custodian Liz Bukowsky suffered a heart attack and had to reduce her work schedule in order to recover.

At the start of this semester, Bukowsky contacted Peer-Assisted Leadership and Service sponsor Richard Cowles to ask if PALS would help McCallum launch a Go Red for Women initiative. She suggested that McCallum might participate in National Wear Red Day.

“I noticed that [Feb. 3] was [also the day for] the spring pep rally,” Cowles said, “so I went to [pep rally coordinator Chastity] Colbert and asked if we could promote [National Wear Red Day] as the theme for the pep rally.”

Ms. Colbert agreed. During the week leading up to the pep rally, PALS members painted some signs and posted  information sheets around school. The event was also promoted on the announcements.

“Luckily, word spread, and red was the word of the day,” Cowles said.

During the pep rally, Ms. Bukowsky thanked the students and faculty for their efforts to promote the event.

While there was plenty of red in the crowd, there was also a lot of blue as the Mac spring teams were recognized and applauded by the appreciative crowd.

In their final pep rally at Mac, the seniors outshouted their underclass competitors to win the spirit stick one last time.