Preparing for upcoming pep rallies, students in their homeroom classes work together as a team to create their own personalized flag which will be displayed to the rest of the school.

This activity is a new idea that started this year and was created by Biology teacher Angela Feldbush and Senior Seminar teacher Amanda Kopp. The two teachers were part of a committee where teachers got together to discuss new ideas on how students can work together as a team.

“It’s important that the kids work together and feel like they are part of a community,” Feldbush said. “Especially because homeroom plays a huge role in the West Shore community.”

Each homeroom gets a different colored flag and must pick a logo or slogan to put on the flag to distinguish them from the rest of the classes.

“My homeroom had a lot of ideas of what we wanted to do,” seventh grader Derek Huss said. “We made a list of ideas and narrowed down our choices by voting and at the end we all ended up agreeing on which idea we like the most.”

Before the pep rally students will have to take part in various homeroom activities that will earn them ribbons.

“There hasn’t really been an award for doing assigned homeroom activities,” Feldbush said. “Participation has been uneven so I think this is a very positive way to draw people together and reward them for doing the things they should be doing.”

“So far my class has gotten two ribbons,” freshman Emily McAtee said. “We got them by doing some type of reading activity and working together as a team.”