CCSU Students Get Hyped Up at Pep Rally

Amidst a fun-filled weekend of festivities and events, students, athletes and faculty came together for a pep rally last Friday to show their support for Central Connecticut State University and its athletic teams.

Homecoming is always an exciting time for college students, as many are eager to show support for their school. This past weekend, homecoming festivities at Central included a pep rally on Friday, Oct. 6, Family Day on Saturday and a tailgate before the big football game.

Erica Kulla, a sophomore at CCSU, is responsible for helping orchestrate the event.

“It took a couple of weeks and a lot of contacting the football team, dance team and cheerleading team,” Kulla said.

Her biggest motivator for arranging the pep rally was to encourage people to show school support and hype students up for the upcoming football game.

The pep rally, which began at 5 p.m. in the Student Center Circle, opened with a surprise appearance by the Blue Devils football players, following much-anticipated performances by the dance and cheerleading teams.

While there, students had the exciting opportunity to get a sneak peek of some of the teams’ acts while feasting on free food, playing games and entering raffles to win apparel.

In an effort to encourage people to attend, the CCSU Twitter handle tweeted their excitement for Friday’s rally, encouraging students to come out for the event decorated in their blue and white apparel.

Halle Berry, a sophomore at CCSU, was responsible for running a table where t-shirts were being raffled off, hoping to get students excited for the upcoming weekend by providing free apparel.

“It shows how pumped people are and gets them excited for the football game,” Berry said.

For many, including sophomore Ricky Hamilton, the pep rally at Central was their first.

“[It’s important to] embrace what you’re paying for,” said Hamilton. “You pay so much for college but a lot of the time, people don’t embrace the whole experience.”

In addition to the pep rally and other campus activities put on for students, the CCSU Alumni Association put together a weekend full of fun and spirited events for CCSU alumni to participate in.

The CCSU football team played the University of Pennsylvania last Saturday on Arute Field for their homecoming day game, kicking off the game at 1 p.m in front of an almost 5,000 person crowd, winning the game.