By SARVANI KURUGANTI, junior

Screaming fans, outrageous dance moves, and crazy competitions — sound exciting? On Tuesday, May 21, JP Stevens held its annual Battle of the Classes, an event fueled by school spirit that allows students and faculty members alike to have fun before another school year comes to a close. This tradition involves each grade competing head-to-head in various challenges to see who garners the most victories, thus becoming the overall winner. Senior Nirmal Patel exclaimed, “This is my favorite school event because I love seeing the different classes compete.”

The most anticipated event of the battle was the dance. After countless hours of preparation, the performers looked forward to showing off their talent and dance moves. Junior class participant Kristen Shea admitted, “The practices were pretty gruesome, and there were some issues. However, the dance came together perfectly in the end.”

Senior Nirmal Patel declared, “The senior dance was well choreographed and amazing. I wish I were a part of it!”

The event kicked off with introductions from each class, featuring a well-crafted poster and a creative march. At the same time, the audience came together to support their respective classes as well as their friends. The seniors took the well-deserved first place with a clever routine that included complex tutting, crazy somersaults, and partner work. While the seniors dazzled the judges with their versatility and patriotism, the juniors, sophomores, and freshman brought their own unique styles to the floor. Having incorporated many popular songs, the dances were met with a tremendous amount of cheers and support for every well-rehearsed performance.

The event moved on to the tug-of-war competition and was quickly dominated by the first place senior girls and boys. As different events carried on, the juniors and seniors were neck to neck, and the sophomores were closely catching up. The freshmen, although very enthusiastic, were still unaccustomed to the battle and had trouble catching up with the others.

As the last event, the obstacle race, started, the seniors were leading by only a few points. Everything boiled down to that moment — the seniors needed to win to take home the title. Throughout the course of the race, the seniors and juniors were in a deadlock. The audience was overcome with silence as they anxiously watched the race, each picking a side. To everyone’s surprise, the juniors emerged victorious and the crowd went wild.

With the battle coming to a close, the judges began to tally up the scores. The juniors won the balloon pop, the obstacle course, and the “over-under.” The seniors, on the other hand, claimed the dance, march, and the tug-of-war. While other events were evenly split between the sophomores and freshmen, the first place spot was disputed between the upperclassmen. With the tallies complete, the results revealed that, for the first time in years, the seniors and juniors were tied. The judges decided to award 50 points to the team that could earn the loudest crowd response.

As the students screamed for their classes, the seniors prevailed, emerging as the reigning champions and were crowned the overall titleholders of BOTC 2013.

This time, regardless of who won, the entire student body came together, not as separate classes but as one school, to honor the winners and all other participants. Junior Karen Eng exclaims, “The game was so close! This is a great way to end their final year!” BOTC is more than just a competition, but an event that students show support and spirit for their school.