Battle of the Classes 2015

By Sonal Mahindroo

On December 23, 2015, students and teachers gathered in the MPR to witness the annual Battle of the Classes competition! Seniors Victoria Momyer, Hannah Pettit, and Ally Spak introduced the judges: Sra. Olsen, Mrs. Widmer, and Mrs. Mitchell.

For each event, the winning grade received 100 points, the grade in second place received 75 points, the grade in third place received 50 points, and the grade in last placed received 25 points. Each grade participated in several events prior to the competition, including a scavenger hunt (a team of five students per grade had to search the school to find the letters to spell “Baccalaureate”), the Students Change Hunger Food Drive, dress up days, coin jars, and Snowcoming Dance ticket sales. When BOTC began, the sophomores were in last place with 175 points, the freshmen and juniors were tied for second place with 325 points each, and the seniors were in the lead with 425 points.

After these scores were announced, the hype videos were shown. The seniors won the event, followed by the sophomores, the juniors, and then the freshmen. Next, the judges assessed the walls that each grade decorated. The freshmen, who created a Mike Wazowski-themed wall, received 25 points. The sophomores with a gel electrophoresis-themed wall received 50 points. When asked, sophomore Carey Lau stated that “Mrs. Mitchell and Mr. Fusco were the inspiration” for the wall. The juniors, who made a wave comprised of various pictures of the grade tinted blue, received 75 points. The seniors created a wall the bearing the slogan “End of an Era” with tributes to their freshmen, sophomore, and junior walls and received 100 points. Senior Alec Battaglia responded positively to the creative wall that his grade constructed.

Finally, the much anticipated main events of the competition began. First up was an interesting relay race in which one person had to run to the cone, perform an action (for example, dribble a soccer ball or do burpees), pick up a certain object, and run back to the starting line. The juniors won the event, with the seniors as a close second. The sophomores placed third and the freshmen came in last place.

Following the relay races was the cake decorating event. Each grade bought in a cake and any frosting or decorations they needed to decorate the cake with. However, there was a catch. One person was blindfolded and had to decorate the cake while another person had to give verbal instructions without touching anything. While the cake decorating event was going on, the impromptu speeches began. Senior Anshul Agrawal was awarded 75 points for his amusing speech that touched upon subjects such as the phrase “eyebrows on fleek”, Kim and Kanye, and toupees. Mahmoud Khair-Eldin spoke on behalf of the juniors and was awarded 100 points for connecting the color blue (the junior’s class color) with great things (such as the Blue Ribbon award). Representing the sophomores was Manasa Gadiraju, who was awarded 50 points for her witty analogy about the sophomores to the integumentary system. Last up was Chloe Raichle, who was the designated speaker for the freshmen. She was awarded 25 points for her interesting view on how the colors truly embodied the spirit of each class.

The judges’ opinions about the cakes were finally released. The senior’s vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting received first place for its gradient orange decorations, which represented the senior class’ journey through high school. The juniors received third place for their cinnamon and nutmeg spiced cake with blueberry, honey, and cream cheese icing adorned with blue flowers and decorations. The freshmen surprisingly received second place for their chocolate and vanilla cake held together by whipped cream and decorated with green frosting, glitter, and sprinkles. The sophomores’ lemon cake decorated with each class’ colors to represent Biotech’s unity received last place.

Next, the judges scored the Jimmy Fallon Lip Syncs. The sophomores, represented by Ritik Shah and Hoang-Nam Vu placed last for their hilarious take on Ariana Grande’s “Focus.” Freshmen Sam Mueller and Thriaksh Rajan took third place for their great effort of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.” Ranjan Pati and Mateo Guzman, representing the juniors, wooed Mr. Martin and also snagged second place by singing “Where Are U Now” by Justin Bieber. Seniors Wil Weiner and Luke Snyder took first place for their comical performance of “Hello” by Adele.

The last event, the dance off, then began. The freshmen once again took third place; highlights of their dance included a one-minute solo by Nathan Kan and a turn sequence by Olivia Pasquale. The sophomore dance, which included vines such as Kanye West’s announcement to run for president and the song “Look At Me Now” to highlight their color (yellow) placed last. The juniors’ dance took second place with an all-male performance of  “Lip Gloss” and a group performance of bhangra choreography as well. The seniors won the event with their dance, with a live rendition of “Downtown” and a recreation of the “Jingle Bell Rock” dance from Mean Girls.

After the total scores were calculated, it was revealed that the seniors won with a total of 1075! The juniors came in second place with 850 points, the freshmen came in third place with 600 points, and the sophomores came in last place with 475 points. Thank you to our wonderful judges and students for making this a successful and fun BOTC, and a special shout out to Dr. Rogers and the Senior Class Council for their hard work!