Leadership hosted its annual Lip Sync competition on Friday night, giving the four grade levels a chance to win money for their classes while showcasing their best fake singing skills.
Each class had about 15 minutes to perform their mixture of skits and dances in front of a panel of judges during the evening’s two performances.
Statistics teacher Robert Allen, history teacher Ben Andersen and physical education teacher Darlene Addiego were the judges who decided the winner based on categories like creativity and execution.
The performances were then ranked, with first place receiving the most money for class events such as prom and ball. The Class of 2023 defended their title by winning for the second straight year.
“My favorite part of Lip Sync is the amount of hard work and dedication that so many students put into making the performances fun for the audience,” ASB and leadership teacher Troy Bristol said.
Hosted in the Cal High theater, the classes each stole the stage with a show centered around their theme: “temperature” (freshmen), “nostalgia” (sophomores), “California” (juniors), and “Super Bowl halftime shows” (seniors).
The seniors pulled off a vibrant performance with incredible dances and tricks that may or may not have left the other classes in shame. They reenacted famous halftime shows by celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Shakira, and Beyonce. They even included the most recent performance by Rihanna.
The seniors danced away with the title after portraying each musician perfectly with costumes and dance moves that could rival the original performances.
“Honestly, all the performances were great and the whole show was way better than I expected,” freshman Olivia Soares said after the show. “I think the senior performance was my favorite because it just looked like they had more experience with Lip Sync and were having lots of fun.”
The freshmen gave a stunning performance featuring songs like “Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry, “In Summer” by Josh Gad (from “Frozen”), “Hot in Herre” by Nelly, “Snowman” by Sia, and “Temperature” by Sean Paul.
Their dances were high energy and set the room on fire. The freshmen also had Bristol’s vote of confidence as he thought they would steal the show and win.
Freshman officer Elise Matek talked about her excitement to perform before the shows.
“I’ve seen my sister do performances every year in high school, and coming in as a freshman it’s just something that seemed really fun to me,” Matek said. “This is my first year and we just jumped right into it, so honestly, we don’t really know what we’re doing and the upperclassmen aren’t really helping us since it’s a competition.”
The sophomore’s 15 minutes were a mixture of skits and dances that included throwbacks such as The Powerpuff Girls, Bizaardvark, Camp Rock, Bunk’d, Daniel Tiger, Liv and Maddie, Wild Kratz, Doc McStuffins, Caillou, and Barbie.
Their theme of nostalgia was peppered with entertaining portrayals of all the characters students grew up watching.
“Leadership puts Lip Sync on every year, so last year as a freshman officer, I was kind of thrown into it, and I loved it,” sophomore leadership student Olivia Martinez said. “We have a great theme this year, nostalgia, so it’s going to be super competitive.”
The juniors rocked to hits like “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus, “Hotel California” by Eagles, and “California Gurls” by Katy Perry. With flannel, cowboy hats, and floral print shirts, the junior represented the West Coast and their home state. Their performance was hilarious and they really got into the spirit with fun and entertaining dances.
“It was my first time watching Lip Sync, and I really liked the junior class performance,” Soares said. “It was really fun and interesting and they had really cool props like cowboy hats and beach shirts.”
This Cal High tradition is one that goes back for years. To make the event happen, performers from each class spent hours outside of school practicing and preparing. The officers from each class decided on a theme and hosted an interest meeting to recruit performers. They then have rehearsals and practices where they get prepared to perform and compete against the other classes.
“Everyone spends hours and hours practicing the dances,” Bristol said. “It is pretty awesome to see the amount of dedication and effort the students put into the competition.”