BOTC 2017

By: Ester Teper and Sam Mueller

This year, Biotechnology High School once again hosted its very own Battle of the Classes, an annual tradition where each class puts forth their best skills, athletes, intellects, and so much more. As always, the senior class decided the events that would occur, and this year they were quite extraordinary: a girls tug of war, a boys popsicle push-up round, relays, the dance, the wall, a hype video, and spirit week. Each of these events summed up the class of 2018, and brought the entire school together in an effort to help their grade overpower the others.

Although BOTC was held in the second half of the day on December 22nd, there were numerous events leading up to it. First off, the club Students of Service hosts an annual food drive to donate food to the needy over the holidays. This club works with the Student Government Association and the class councils to incorporate the food drive, Students Change Hunger, into BOTC. The grade to raise the greatest number of pounds of food will receive extra points on BOTC day; this year, the seniors won this part of the contest. The juniors followed up in second, the sophomores came third, and the freshmen finished fourth.

The next component of pre-BOTC competition was Spirit Week. Each day of the week of the 22nd, there was a theme. Starting with America Day, continuing to Holiday Sweater Day, Extreme Weather Day, Pajama Day, and of course, Class Color Day. Each of these days was a true test to the holiday and team spirit of the grade, and the seniors won this part by far. The freshmen were only slightly behind, coming in second, the juniors placed in third, and the sophomores got second place.

The final chance to win points prior to the event was the Can Jar, a yearly fundraiser for the senior class council. The rules were simple: a penny gives the grade 1 point, a $1 bill would give the grade 100 points, a $5 bill would give the grade 500 points, etc. Any silver coins gave the grade -1 point. Initially, it looked like the juniors were going to lose due to all of the silver coins, but they made a comeback to third place, just behind the seniors! The sophomores placed in second, and the freshmen got last place.

The relay race, one of the first events of BOTC, consisted of numerous trials. Each grade had to bring forth a group of 5 people, with at least one girl and one boy on each team. The group had to run, solve a rubik’s cube, run back, do push-ups, bear crawls, burpees, and even had the opportunity to once again solve a Rubik’s cube. This event was geared entirely towards the seniors, who exxcel at solving this mind boggling device, but the freshmen surprised many when they took first place. The seniors recovered quickly, finishing in second, while the juniors finished third and the sophomores finished last.

BOTC also saw an acapella competition between each grade. Each grade could make a team of about 10 people, and prepare any 30 second piece of a song, which they would perform for the audience. Additionally, they randomly chose a song right after performing, and had to improvise their chosen Disney musical song just minutes after performing their first song. The seniors won first, the juniors second, the sophomores third, and the freshmen fourth.

The next event of the day was a test of strength for the boys, an event of popsicle push-ups, in which four students from each grade formed a human square. Each student’s legs rested on another student’s, and each team of four had to complete push-ups together, without anyone touching the ground. The boys worked together, forming a more perfect union than ever before, and lifted each other up numerous times. The seniors won first place, sophomores placed second, the juniors got third, and the freshmen came in last place.

For the girls, there was a tug of war competition, with the first round being between the juniors and sophomores, and the second round between the freshmen and seniors. The juniors and seniors won these rounds, and then had to compete against each other. The three girls on the seniors team pulled their competition away, securing first place for this competition.

Each grade also had the opportunity to show off their computer skills in the making of a hype video. The freshmen showed the love and connection they have throughout their grade, the sophomores and juniors showed general excitement, and the seniors had a video that showed the juxtaposition between others and themselves, and how they will always rise to be the best they can be. They placed first, the juniors placed in second, the sophomores got third, and the freshmen placed in fourth.

The second to last event consisted of the wall, which the grades had to create prior to BOTC. Each grade had a theme, and the judges had a really tough time deciding on the winner of this round. The freshmen went with an astronaut theme, saying that they “blue us out of this world,” as this is their class color. This innovative slogan and combination of color and space won them last place. The sophomores, as their class color is orange, went with a Cheeto theme. They placed in third. The juniors created a wall with intricate detail, with a theme of the Jungle Book. The antagonists of the book are represented by animals in the colors of the other grades, and this design landed them first place. Finally, the seniors created an extremely well designed and flawlessly architectured 3D Spartan mask. There were handmade banners on the sides of the mask, and this theme even connected to their dance and slogan “Invinc18le.” Unfortunately, they did not receive first place for this immense amount of work, but they made up for it in other categories.

The final event was the dance. Each grade created their own song mix and choreography for their five minute showing. This year’s dance saw several creative events, including the seniors’ Spartan sword fight and the juniors’ time machine and time travel theme. The seniors took first place, with the juniors taking second, the freshmen taking third and the sophomores taking fourth.

All in all, the seniors won BOTC comfortably, with 850 points to the juniors’ 700. The sophomores and freshmen tied for third, with 425 points.