Formerly known as the Black-and-Blue Olympics, SCUSD high schools are bringing back interschool competitions. Battle of the Schools will take place in the SCHS main gym on April 10, 2026, during which Santa Clara High School, Wilcox High School and MacDonald High School will participate in a series of games.
Adopted as an extended version of Santa Clara’s and MacDonald’s Battle of the Classes and Wilcox’s Fantastics, the winning classes for each game from the intraschool event will continue on to BOTS. The games will range from hula hoop relay to guess the lyrics, with the respective schools cheering their teams on.
MHS’s ASB secretary, senior Nyataba Liah, recalled why the idea for BOTS was introduced early on in the school year.
“BOTS is just a way for our schools in the district to come together and show their spirit,” Liah said. “A competitive way, but it’s also building a connection between the schools. It’s similar to BOTC, where we dance and do games to have a friendly competition night.”
ASB members throughout the three schools are collaborating and finalizing logistics to bring the event together. Wilcox ASB president, senior Shriya Ratnani, explained that the first step of the planning process was finalizing logistics and deciding which games should be continued on to BOTS.
“We looked at what games Wilcox did and MacDonald and Santa Clara did, and we chose some of the common games but also some that maybe we did that they don’t do or vice versa to try and make it inclusive,” Ratnani said.
One issue that arose early on with the common games was the differences of guidelines and how they are executed at the different schools.
“I think it (BOTC) has a similar structure. It’s just the games that have different rules,” Liah said. “For example, with the (human) table game, at our BOTC, we just had the opponents hold their cups on their left hand, while compared to Wilcox and Santa Clara, they had trays between the stomachs of the people and had a cup balancing on there.”
In an attempt to make up for these differences, Wilcox ASB vice president, junior Drew Madriaga, shared what steps are being taken to ensure all schools have an equal and fair chance at winning.
“We met in the middle in terms of how we are able to choose what rules are allowed,” Madriaga said. “With referees, each school will have their own referee for the game, so one will be from Santa Clara, one will be from Wilcox (and) one will be from MacDonald.”
Since MacDonald is relatively new to BOTC and smaller in size than the other schools, Liah expressed concern about what the turnout may look like and what needs to be done to publicize BOTS.
“Something I’m worried about is participation because this is something new that all the schools are doing,” Liah said. “Santa Clara and Wilcox had already had a foundation built, and we are just getting started with that. If we have that promotion and all that advertising, I think we could get a good amount of people.”
Due to the differences in dates for each school’s BOTC and Fantastics, official publicizing and practices began after the last event, Santa Clara’s BOTC, which occurred on Friday, March 27. According to SCHS’s ASB communications officer, senior Priya Pudasaini, the variations in dates contributed to a larger concern about whether student turnout will be affected.
“I do have some concerns for each (school),” Pudasaini said. “MacDonald’s and Wilcox already had their events, and ours is later in the month, so I’m kind of worried that people in general aren’t as excited about BOTS, especially because it’s hard to publicize.”
Though the planning group had challenges regarding the dates, Ratnani foresees that the ever-existent Santa Clara-Wilcox rivalry will have a hand in exercising the hype, moving to integrate MacDonald as well.
“I know that there’s always been rivalry between Santa Clara and Wilcox, and it’s great that we’re able to bring that back and also include MacDonald because this is their first taste of anything like this,” Ratnani said.
For WHS’s vice principal of activities, Molly Lower, BOTS is a way to represent each school while coming together as one district. She believes it could have a significant impact on interschool collaborations moving forward.
“It’s fun to dig deep into your own school’s school spirit for events like this because what I like is we really get to rep our school,” Lower said. “Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re all in the same district and we all support each other, so I hope that’s the spirit that we can all take into this.”