Gainesville City Schools pumps up teachers with back to school pep rally

Cheers erupted from the Gainesville High School gym Tuesday morning, even though students don't return to campus until Wednesday. The cheers came from the teachers of all of the Gainesville City Schools as they gathered together for a pep rally before the first day of school.

New Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Williams was the master of ceremonies, introducing the Teachers of the Year from each school. He also gave instructions for a series of games that mean financial prizes for the winner's school and introduced a hashtag competition for the new school year. Williams also offered up some word of inspiration for the 2017-18 school year. 

Teachers were decked out in school spirit wear, with instructors and administrators from each school wearing matching shirts. Even the staff from the school board office got into the fun.  Teachers also had the opportunity to win door prizes from local sponsors like Georgia Power, Office Tools, Jaemor Farms, Chick-fil-A and Image Boutique.

Take a look at some photos from the pep rally in the gallery above.

The Big Red Machine lines up with the Gainesville High cheerleaders to welcome teachers from all of the schools in the city district.

Wearing their spirit gear for their respective schools, teachers fill up the bleachers in the Gainesville High gym.

Dr. Jeremy Williams, the new superintendent, hosts the pep rally with help from administrative staff at central office.

To get the spirit started, the Teacher of the Year from each school was recognized.

Then, the games began. Centennial Arts Academy was determined to take down the hula hoop game.

Mundy Mill Academy teachers move the hoop as quickly as they can.

New Holland Core Knowledge Academy takes the hoop head on.

Two teams - Centennial and Gainesville Exploration Academy - are in a narrow finish of the hula hoop game.

Meanwhile, teams of four from each school are up on the second level, crafting the perfect paper airplane.

Now, to see how well they fly. The principal of each school stands on the gym floor where their team's plane lands,

After some door prizes, teams, including this one from Gainesville Middle, got to work on building spaghetti towers.

Gainesville Exploration Academy and the other teams had tape, dry spaghetti and a single marshmallow to use. The marshmallow had to balance on top of the tower, and the tallest tower wins.

Enota Elementary works to undo a human knot in the last challenge at the rally.

After another round of door prizes, the last award was a painted elephant wall mount for the school with the most points in the games.

Gainesville Exploration Academy took home the elephant trophy.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/8/565146/gainesville-city-schools-pumps-up-teachers-with-back-to-school-pep-rally