Baldwin Elementary Gets Pumped for SOLs

Preparing for the SOLs has never been so exciting—at least for students at it hasn't.

Students, faculty and staff were welcomed into the school's auditorium Friday afternoon by drumline for a pep rally to get the students excited about next week's SOL tests.

As students flooded through the doors and into their seats, they were handed blue and white pom poms to raise their spirits.

When they were seated, outgoing Eagles Head Basketball Coach Mike Dufrene gave them some words of encouragement and talked about pep rallys.

"As a high school, when we have a pep rally, we rock the house!" he said.

Dufrene then lead the school in a cheer competition. He stood in front of each grade, one at a time, and instructed them to cheer as loud as they could. After the last group had cheered, he included the faculty and staff in the competition.

The drumline came out once again and gave the students a performance that included drumstick flipping—and some drummer flipping. Two members of the group held a third upside-down as he continued to play. The young students were captivated by their skill and energy.

At the end of the performance, a member of the drumline told the students to keep trying, even if the SOLs seem too hard.

"Don't ever give up. Don't ever drop out. Don't even think about it," said OHS student Michael Canoy.

When the drumline had cleared out, three members of the took the floor and entertained the students with a dance about the difficulty of focusing on a test.

Before members of the OHS drumline and Elite Beat left, coach Dufrene had one more message for the students. He asked them three questions, which they shouted the answers to: Who is the Washington Post principal of the year? Who is the tallest person in this gymnasium? Who is the best, the brightest, the smartest in this gymnasium right now?

The children screamed back, "Principal Cramp," "Coach Dufrene" and "me!"

The rest of the pep rally consisted of chants from each of the younger grades, to their classmates, a faculty and staff music video to the tune of Ke$ha's "Your Love is My Drug," a dance from the Fly Girls to the tune of "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz, and a faculty and staff dance to "Firework" by Katy Perry.

By the end of the rally, students were pumped up and excited to take their SOLs head on, and ready to go home.