On Friday, October 10th, Millikan High School held a School-wide rally sponsored by Nike in celebration of the Millikan Vs. Poly
football game.
The game was selected by Nike LA in an attempt to give this ongoing rivalry a fun and exciting spin, along with being a part of their “Rivalry Game of the Week” campaign.
Though this rivalry has been long-lasting, the spirit of competitiveness is fresh among the students of Millikan, made clear at the rally. The rally brought electric energy to the student body, with students and staff bonding to show their Ram pride.
Millikan’s Activities Director, Mr. Robinson explained, “..I was hoping, selfishly, for ASB that we can utilize this as the way to just build community and excitement,” also emphasizing how he didn’t just want this to be about football. “I didn’t want to turn this into a football thing. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to showcase a lot of the things we have on campus, not just football.”
With a similar perspective, Principal Dr. Stacie Alexander shared, “Nike and the LA Rams are trying to drum up school spirit and connection to their communities by picking rivalry games of the week.” The rally created a strong sense of community that echoed throughout the school that Friday.
However, making this happen wasn’t any simple task, “We had several zoom meetings and a couple in-person meetings with Nike representatives here at Millikan to talk about the different things they were putting on leading up to the rally as well as what was gonna happen at the rally,” Dr. Alexander added.
Although there are many positives to this event, there’s a handful of negatives as well.
Many students expressed disappointment when talking about the rally. Juliana Medina, freshman in PEACE described the event as “unentertaining” and “boring” Other students agreed, freshman in COMPASS, Katelyn Monzon said “not everyone was hyped to be there, it felt underwhelming.”
Despite the mixed reactions and the obstacles faced when organizing this large event, it was a major success. With cheer, song, and folklorico demonstrating individual skill and strong stage presence in addition to marching band, the rally was sure to amplify the spirits of anybody attending.
Zoe Miller • Nov 21, 2025 at 11:43 am
As a member of the Millikan colorguard team, supporting the marching band with flags and rifles, I witnessed the event firsthand, from twirling my flag during the rally, to the actual game at Veterans Memorial Stadium, and was eager to gain insight about it. It was interesting to learn about how extensive of a process it was to prepare this event and I applaud the staff at Nike, the LA Rams, Poly, and here at Millikan for actualizing it. Benekos did an excellent job at providing full context through quotes from staff such as Mr. Robinson and Principal Dr. Stacie Alexander. I enjoyed reading about how the event aimed to boost morale and Ram pride for the game. Her article also acknowledged other opinions on the rally, mentioning students who expressed disappointment towards it. That portion of the article reminded me of how bored I personally felt at the rally myself, as it took a great amount of time to bring every student to the stands so the marching band and colorguard could perform our show. But, overall, the rally was an enjoyable experience that sparked excitement for the football game that would follow that night, and it was insightful to read about the details in this article.
Kody Rankin • Nov 18, 2025 at 8:44 pm
November 18, 2025
Dear Corydon Editor,
In November 2025, Sofia Alas published an article titled “Millikan Hosts Nike-sponsored Rally Ahead of Rivalry Game”. After reading it, I immediately felt that her reporting reflected my own experience at the rally extremely well. The mix of excitement and disappointment she describes matched what I saw on campus that day, and it helped me realize that my reaction wasn’t unique. Her balanced perspective made the article feel honest and relatable. I also appreciated the insight the article provided about how the rally was actually put together. Learning about the meetings with Nike and the behind-the-scenes planning from ASB and school staff made the event feel much more intentional than I originally thought. It helped me understand that even the parts students didn’t enjoy were the result of real challenges the organizers were facing. Finally, I want to praise Sofia for including unfiltered student opinions in her reporting. Even though some comments were negative, keeping them in made the article more trustworthy and gave students a voice. It showed the event for what it truly was—something exciting, imperfect, and memorable for different reasons.
Sincerely,
Kody Rankin
Annabelle Lawrence • Nov 18, 2025 at 1:36 pm
I was compelled to read this article because I’ve recently begun to notice our school’s encouragement of “ram pride”. As someone who had assumed that the rally was only to encourage student athletes, I was impressed with Benekos’s perspective. Benekos highlights the importance of including the entire student body brilliantly through her interview with Mr. Robinson. While he agreed that it’s important to show some love to the football players, he also emphasized student connections and how rallies are the perfect opportunity to promote unity. Benekos’s acknowledgement of how the rally wasn’t completely positively received by students was also impressive. Her commitment to giving a well-rounded review of the event from the minds of staff members, students, as well as Nike, greatly contributed to the piece. I ended the article feeling more excited for future school rallies now that I know about their commitment to showcasing students.
Nina • Nov 18, 2025 at 1:35 pm
While reading this article, I really liked how Lyla led up to discussing the Nike rally by explaining Millikan’s rivalry with Poly. It really helps people understand for those who weren’t aware. She uses great descriptive words like “electric” to describe students’ energy at the rally. Also, the incorporation of quotes from a variety of sources helps to elevate the article. I appreciated the insightful comments from adults on campus such as Mr. Robinson and Principal Dr. Alexander about the nature of the rally and what it meant to them. Lyla also uses quotes from students, which helps to cover all of the opinions and attitudes toward the Nike rally. She provides positives and negatives about the rally in a way that makes the article feel well-rounded. At the end of the article, I feel that she accurately summarizes the event and its impact on Millikan students.
Additionally, I think that the images picked to go along with the article were well chosen and helped to depict what it felt like to be at the rally.
Princeton • Nov 18, 2025 at 11:43 am
I thought this coverage of the school-wide rally on Friday, October 10th was clear and well–organized. Furthermore I am glad to say that she did
a great job describing both excitement and concerns surrounding the event, and I appreciate your inclusion of highlighting different students and how they saw the rally.
One thing that Benekos did quite well was explaining the purpose behind Nike LA choosing the Millikan vs. Poly game as their “Rivalry Game of the Week” campaign. Including quotes from Activities Director Grant Robinson and Principal Dr. Stacie Alexander really helped show the amount of planning and intention that went behind the rally. It also clarified that the event was not meant to highlight football, but the entire Millikan community as a whole.
Moreover, Lyla Benekos’ inclusion of student reactions added an honest and helpful perspective. I agree with your decision to include comments from students like Juliana Medina and Katelyn Monzon, who felt that the rally was underwhelming. Their feedback raised useful questions that can later assist in the planning of future events, rallies, or other school-wide gatherings. It might be worthwhile exploring new suggestions from students about what would have made this rally more exciting, inclusive, and engaging.
Overall, Benekos’ article is very well structured and presents an honest and factual overview of a major school event. I enjoyed reading it and learning more about the effort and planning that went into creating the rally.
Landon Applegate • Nov 18, 2025 at 11:28 am
As a junior in QUEST who attended the rally, I would like to praise the writer for an accurate summary of the event. I feel like it was an amazing opportunity to showcase many of the important aspects of Millikan high school, not just football alone, and I also liked how the author wrote about all the preparation and effort that made the event so special. It showcases the commitment to those putting in their own time, voluntarily, to produce something for the entertainment of the entire school, fostering respect between students. However, as an individual who experienced the event first hand, I have to point out some of the negative aspects for the observers. First of all, the event was respectfully boring to watch. There were not that many opportunities to include the students with their participation which I feel could have stimulated the students and benefited the event overall if it was included. Additionally, it would have also been beneficial to look at the weather beforehand. It was extremely hot and humid in the stands, taking the attention away from the show and instead directed it towards staying cool. Despite these factors, the actual football game later that Friday night was amazing to watch and created priceless memories for my friends and I.
Sincerely,
Landon Applegate
Angel Contreras • Nov 18, 2025 at 9:50 am
I was looking at the Millikan Corydon page and found this article very eye-catching to me. The article was overall well written throughout. However, I believe there could have been more emotion when writing about how the school wanted to express more than just a football within it. I also really enjoyed the depth of detail that came with the article because it emphasized a lot about the school and overall how they wanted to make this more than just an event for football by showcasing many aspects of the school. To add on, I also really enjoyed how the author incorporated student’s views on the rally and how it went. This gives more emotion and insight into the article and overall makes it more appealing to the reader’s. Furthermore, though the article did lack some details for instance, the author could’ve incorporated more views of students that thought the event went well rather than just having so many negative comments in the article. In addition, I also really enjoyed how they incorporated the staff members point of view and the insight of how to organize this event. Moreover, I also really enjoyed the article because it was overall well written and the author incorporated the events beforehand that led up to the event and what they did to execute the event. I really enjoyed this part of the article because it gave insight on the event and what staff members do for the school. In conclusion, the article was overall well written and was very amusing to me.
Isabella Clark • Nov 18, 2025 at 9:46 am
The rivalry Nike rally to prepare for the Millikan vs. Poly football game was engaging and it hyped the crowd for the event. I enjoyed reading this article because it recognized the talent and hard work that Millikan cheer, song, folklorico, color guard and marching band put into their performances to charge up the crowd. These are the teams that are crucial to energize the crowd and lift the spirits up even if the football team is at a low point. Being able to charge the crowd when hope might seem lost is a powerful thing to do. As Benekos mentions in the article, some students were disappointed with the rally as they did not find it as amusing. From my perspective, the rally was fun, however I did wish it was more loud music and more of ASB hyping up the students. This is because they are students themselves and I feel as though it might have brought students even closer and made the whole rally relatable. Throughout the day, I did notice an overwhelming amount of togetherness this rally brought for our school. It was a to see the perspectives of Mr. Robinson and Principal Dr. Stacie Alexander.
Ava Von Hoene • Nov 17, 2025 at 1:47 pm
This article praised lots of events that Millikan has to offer, as well as involving the Ram community. Community is a very important aspect at this school, and the Nike Rally offered opportunities to get yourself involved in the community, such as attending the rival game or joining a club. As a student who attended the rally, I thought it was a great opportunity to see some of my friends and talk to them about the game, and I was happy to hear that others enjoyed it too.
I admire how Benekos added content about the superb sides of the rally as well as the not-so-great ones. Watching the Rally is one thing, but being involved in it is another side, and I think that the quotes incorporated into the read demonstrated how people really felt about it. One suggestion I would have made to the article is to add a statistic of how many people at the school enjoyed the rally and felt interested in going to the game. Leverage is a great tool to add to an article, but making it even more specific might make it more interesting to the reader.
Overall, the article was intriguing and persuasive in the context of being more involved at school, and makes me question if there will be another rally similar to the Nike one next year. Despite the small downsides, the Nike rally was an overall success of the Millikan community, boosting various extracurriculars and increasing involvement, and this article did a successful job in praising the community at Millikan High School.
Emile Culbertson • Nov 17, 2025 at 1:22 pm
I loved the quote from Mr. Robinson about making the rally focused on other groups on campus that do not get as much attention as they should. I am in the marching band, and I performed in the pregame before the rally. And I believe the rally was still heavily focused on football. I understand that the rally is for a football game, but the organization of the rally was not strong. My classmates and I had to run from our band room to the field because we were told Nike wanted us to perform as soon as possible. We waited another fifteen minutes out on the field, waiting for a sign. The rally was very fun to be in, but could have been more organized, and all the performers were informed of a plan for the rally. I also appreciated the amount of coordination that was needed from Millikan’s administration and Nike for this to be a success. Dr. Alexander was extremely happy at the rally to see so many students engaging that day. But being there at the rally was a bit underwhelming. It was extremely fun to see cheer and ballet folkloric perform their routines because I do not get to see them perform that often. I think a giveaway of a Millikan Nike hoodie would have been a great way to get people interested in the rally. The rally was a very logistical event that required all participants to be on board, including all the students watching. I think a main reason students thought the rally was underwhelming was that there were so many students in the stands that it took a long time to sit everyone down. How many classes were attended at the rally that day? Nonetheless, the rally was organized and fun.