Come Rally Day, word of each grade’s theme has leaked, and everyone knows the basic concept of each skit, but one component of Rally remains a mystery: the identities of the five judges. Shortly before the performances begin, Athletic Director Mr. P. Spitzfaden announces their names.
Vice-President of Institutional Advancement Mrs. T. Dunn selected the judges for the decade leading up to her retirement this year, and now the responsibility belongs to Ms. S. Salvagio.
The five judges are always alumnae “who have contributed to the school with their time, talent or treasure,” says Ms. Salvagio. The women are selected from the many graduates who have remained in contact with the school and have expressed an interest in the position. Ms. Salvagio says, “We try to select judges who graduated in different decades and who have had different Rally experiences.” To assure unbiased decisions, the judges may not be related to any current students.
Faced with the daunting task of choosing the winners, each judge ranks the grades in each of the seven categories, including Mascot and Pep Squad. Within each category, the judges assign points to the grades based on their ranks, and the points given by each judge are averaged. The grade with the highest point average in a certain category wins first place.
Though Rally Night is now Rally Day, the tradition and process of choosing
judges remains unchanged.
my "teacher" has this new rule by which we must have someone fact-check our drafts and sign off on them. in my case, this person was dean of students, ms. s. salvagio, who decided that she did not like the bolded line, preferring to be quoted as having said "dedicated and loyal alumnae." this would be fine if i had not already mentioned this in the bits where i stated that they are "graduates" and "alumnae" and where i showed that they are loyal and dedicated, rather than directly stating it. the alliterative quotation is sadly the cleverest bit of my article, so naturally, it must go. because i must include her adjustment, i must also excise my now repetitive descriptions. i should probably also change the byline to her name, because little of the final draft will be written of my own volition.
it's sad that i was warned just a little too late that writing for a catholic school's newspaper is not an exercise in student journalism so much as a lesson in the retrogressive, repressive attitude of catholic schools. i actually got a 7/10 for "strong, interesting, and descriptive wording" on my first draft. me. i got points off for not using captivating diction. last time, i got points off for using precise, apt vocabulary too erudite for the majority of dominican's student body. i was not allowed to use the word arduous. clearly we accept only the best.
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