Arriving at school at 6:00 AM on a Saturday of the Veteran’s Day weekend doesn’t seem like anything a student would voluntarily sign up for. The Rio Mesa Key Club proved that statement wrong when they had fifty students show up to get on the bus to attend Fall Rally at Six Flags Magic Mountain!

Fall Rally is an annual event attended every year at Six Flags by the Key Club divisions all over California, Nevada, and Hawaii.  Each division is composed of anywhere from 8-16 schools Key Club members.  Rio Mesa is part of Division 42 West which includes Pacifica, Oxnard, Channel Islands, Santa Paula, Santa Clara, Buena, and Ventura!  At Fally Rally, the divisions compete in a spirit session where they recite the chants they have practiced throughout the term.  Whichever division chants the loudest with the best memorization wins the spirit stick!

After arriving at Magic Mountain at about 8:00 AM, Rio Mesa Key Club and their division headed to the Golden Bear Theatre where the Spirit Session was to take place.  Alondra Garcia, a four year Key Club member at Rio Mesa was filled with excitement as she approached her first Fall Rally ever.

“It felt so cool to see Key Club members from all over California and even Nevada and Hawaii! As I walked in the park, I felt so spirited for the session and was prepared to compete for the spirit stick!”  

Once in the Golden Bear Theatre, the rally session began!  All the Lieutenant Governors, which are essentially the Presidents of each division lined the stage as their respective division cheered for them.  Our very own Rio Mesa Key Club member Sofia Barajas was on the stage, as she is the Lieutenant Governor for our division, and the first ever Lieutenant Governor from Rio Mesa!  When asking Sofia how she feels about this special honor, she smiled and gave a thoughtful response.

“It’s been such a great experience meeting so many new and amazing people from different schools all over the county, and showing them how special Rio Mesa’s Key Club is, even though they haven’t had a lot of past representation in the division.  I love being able to tell others Rio Mesa has over 150 members, after essentially not even having a club during the pandemic.”

After about an hour of chanting and screaming during the Spirit Session, Division 42 West earned third place out of ten divisions in the session! This was the first time in years that Division 42 West had made it to the final round. Once the Spirit Session was over, all members were able to go on rides in the park, and meet new people.  

The bus ride back at 7:00 PM was filled with complete silence as all the members were exhausted from a day filled with chanting and hanging out with friends.  Even though the culmination of the Fall Rally and Veteran’s Day weekend made the wait times for rides extremely long, all the members still agreed it was “key” part of their Key Club experience.