OXFORD, Miss. – The second annual Rally in the Grove kicks
off the 2007 home football season for the University of
Mississippi at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Sponsored by the Student Spirit Committee, Rally in the
Grove features entertainment by the Krackerjacks on the
Grove stage. The Ole Miss cheerleaders, Rebelettes and the
Pride of the South Marching Band also are to be on hand to
help with the pep rally. Rebel coaches and team members are
expected to participate.
“We are so excited about Rally in the Grove,” said Collins
Tuohy, SSC president. “The football team is excited, too.
Athletes are so willing to help because it makes a
difference to them when they are out there and the students
section is behind them.”
The committee was founded in February 2006, when a group of
students went to Associate Athletic Director Derek Horne
with concerns about the student support for athletics. With
the help of the group’s adviser, Molly Meisenheimer,
assistant director of the Ole Miss Women’s Council, the SSC
began organizing events to aid student support of Ole Miss
athletics.
“This is a 100-percent student-led organization,” Tuohy
said. “Everything we do is done by the students, for the
students.”
The group is providing more ways for the students to be
involved this year with the addition of a Rebel Road Trip
to Auburn. Three buses have been chartered for students to
attend the Oct. 27 Auburn game. A $100 ticket includes a
student game ticket, bus ticket, meal and snacks. For more
information, contact Richard Wood at rdwood1@olemiss.edu.
The SSC meets every other Monday in the Student Union. A
selection committee chooses members when applications
become available.
“We notify students through the Daily Mississippian about
applications,” Wood said. “We hold our members accountable;
they are only allowed two absences per semester.”
With student support, the SSC hopes to continue to do more
each year to improve campus support for athletics.
“We have the most diverse group of students and we are
fully committed to promoting Ole Miss athletics,” Wood
said. “We are basically die-hard Rebels.”