Battle of the Classes has been a tradition at SCHS for over 10 years. During the week-long event, the four classes battle against each other in a series of friendly competitions. Usually, the senior class dominates in the majority of the events and takes home the trophy. This year, however, the expected victory was not achieved. Finishing in third place, the senior class was defeated in their final BOTC by the sophomores in second and the juniors in first.

According to senior Catherine Clear, the class of 2019 worked very hard in their events and should have at least won second place.

“Everyone practiced most of the events until they were near perfect, but there were some events that could have been better if they practiced it more,” Clear said.

Despite this year being the seniors’ final year to participate in BOTC, senior Anirudh Tanugula understands that BOTC is not all about winning.

“Even though we got third, we had an amazing experience together and just had a great bonding moment by cheering each other on and working with people,” Tanugula said.

Junior Eddie Perez attributes their win to the spirit of the class of 2020.

“We had the most spirit this year for sure, winning at the spirit weeks. I felt like we were more of a family this year…” Perez said.

Junior Spirit Representative Naxely Belmont said their success was due to the perseverance in addition to the community spirit of the class.

“I think the main reason we won was because the whole class was really determined to do well in the events and dances they were participating in…” Belmont said. “Most importantly everyone was willing to have fun.”

Many of the sophomores were surprised at their second place win. According to sophomore Chad Martin, the guidance that student council provided in preparing for BOTC helped them win second place.

“I think that we were able to get second place because we were prepared, we had good leadership, and we were all motivated,” Martin said. “The sophomore leaders did a great job of motivating people and were always on top of things.”

Sophomore Jenna Olmiala agrees.

“We practiced almost every weekend and we worked after school and during lunch. Council definitely put so much effort into preparing everyone,” Olmiala said.

While some may have mixed feelings about the results, many students believe BOTC is meant to build peer connections.  

“There is no such thing as losing in BOTC,” Tanugula said. “It’s all about the experience that you get and what you make it out of it.”