Reese Clinchard, staff reporter
Reese Clinchard is a sophomore and a first-year staff member. Clinchard’s favorite part about journalism is being able to interview new people and covering a wide range of topics. Outside of newspaper, she is a social officer on the McCallum Blue Brigade and loves to be involved in her school.
![ONE LAST BATTLE CRY: Senior Valeria Villafuerte-Perez celebrates with her friends after the senior class won the spirit competition. At each pep rally, a different game is played with volunteers from the crowd. Villafuerte-Perez was nominated by her friends to play a game in which the goal was to snatch a pom-pom from an opponent.
“Before school started, my friends and I had talked about going all out for senior year, so I told them to nominate me for a game since it was our last [Shoal Creek Showdown] pep rally,” Villafuerte-Perez said. “I wasn’t really scared to go down to the floor in front of the whole school, all I was focused on was getting the crowd hyped for the game.”
Villafuerte-Perez entered the game determined to win. After several rounds, as there were just two people left, she managed to snatch the last pom just in time, in order to secure a victory for the senior class.
“I was really happy I won the game for the class of 2026,” Villafuerte-Perez said. “Honestly, I just wanted to win because seniors rule.”
As this was her first pep rally as a senior, the event carried extra meaning to Villafuerte-Perez.
“Being in the stands as a senior feels very surreal,” Villafuerte-Perez said. “I still remember my first pep rally, and now I’m a senior having my last pep rally, I think in that moment it really set in that I’m a senior, and that I’m going to graduate soon.”
Caption by Sophia Manos. Photo by Julia Copas.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/54750679693_5f7d007e27_o-1200x675.jpg)