Students at Vista Academy in Tyler get loud at a black light and neon pep rally held to pump them up for the STAAR Test next week. (Victor Texcucano/Staff)

The lights were turned off, plunging the gymnasium of Vista Academy of Tyler, a local charter school, into darkness for a “black-out pep rally.”

The only thing anyone could see was neon necklaces glowing in the dark. Students seemed invigorated by the darkness as they excitedly screamed and chanted loudly.

The pep rally was conducted “to get them to feel pumped up and ready for the STAAR test next week and to make them feel they’ve got it, they are all going to do great,” Campus Director Keith Garcia said.

The principal said he wanted students to feel so ready for the test that there is not a thought in their mind that they are not going to pass.

Students in independent school districts and charter schools across the state will take the STAAR test, an acronym for State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

The pep rally at Vista Academy brought everybody together as a team, Garcia said.

The theme for this week and the pep rally was “everything is awesome,” taken from a song by the same name in a Lego cartoon animation movie popular with children.

Fourth-grader Ashlynn Cable, 10, said, “It (the pep rally) really gets you excited for the STAAR test and you know with the support of all your friends and your school family that you can pass it.” She earned a perfect score on the STAAR last year, according to the principal.

Tristan Byford, 9, also a fourth grader, said, “It gets everybody pumped up and ready to take the STAAR and makes everybody feel like it’s just going to be a piece of cake and it’s just fun and entertaining.”

Cheerleaders, the dance team and Swoop, the Eagle mascot, from The University of Texas at Tyler performed, adding to the entertainment.

Similar to an athletic event, the principal called out the name of every pupil in third through sixth grade and let them run across the gym floor as other students cheered.

There was competition to determine which grades had the best chant, the loudest and the most energetic. The second grade won the spirit stick this year.

Vista Academy, now in its third year, is a college preparatory academy with 300 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Next year, Garcia said, it will add the seventh grade and change its name to Tyler Classical Academy. Under the new name, it will have a classical curriculum based on historical content, humanities, rhetoric and etcetera.