The first-ever teacher vs. student lip-sync battle took place on Feb. 12, during sixth period. Duos of students faced off against duos of teachers, for the ultimate prize of bragging rights. This was an event created and hosted by the student council. The battle, inspired by a popular television show, was a hit with enthusiastic performances and loud crowd support.
A lip-sync battle is when two people or groups compete to see who can mouth the words of a song most realistically. It typically includes a fun dance as well for added believability.
This event had never been done before for BLAST week. The student council got the idea from a popular television show. They thought it would be a fun change of activities for the week.
“There’s a show called ‘Lip Sync Battle’ and we just kind of took inspiration from that because we wanted a fun, new event for BLAST week,” junior student council member Aurora Swenson said.
The student council designated three judges. Assistant principal Shelly Phernetton, spanish teacher Kirsten Carter and spanish teacher Rebecca Skogen were the selected judges of the competition. After each performance, they corroborated to decide on a winner.
“There was a strategic reason behind these selected judges. We decided to do all teacher judges because there is only one teacher participating in the battle,” Swenson said.
First, juniors Blessed Davis and Emilio Matias partnered up for a fantastic performance of “Do It Like Me” by DLOW. They did an entertaining dance with the performance.
Davis explained why him and Matias chose to participate, “We’re both really good at lip-syncing and we know the song already so we’re just gonna freestyle it. We haven’t practiced at all if I’m being honest,” Davis said.
Next, social studies teacher Cornelius Rish joined the competition, singing “I Feel Good” by James Brown. He chose this song because he believes James Brown is one of the most prolific performers in history and really admires him.
Next, Rish gave insight on why chose to participate, “BLAST week is one of my favorite weeks of the year, it’s time for the community to come together, uplift each other, and support each other. So when I heard about the lip-sync battle, I thought it would be the perfect time to be creative, have some fun, and be a part of the community,” Rish said.
Rish had a specific process leading up to the competition. He described the process of coming up with a dance for it. Rish said the fans will have to wait to find out what his dance moves are.
“I kind of listen to the music and how the music makes me move and feel, or what the message is trying to convey. Then, I did more mental reps than physical reps, just walking myself through the performance in my head over and over,” Rish said.
Then, Rish shared some advice for the students on why he decided to participate in this battle. Rish is known by his students for his extremely wise advice and life lessons.
“In life it’s important to take calculated risks, and to stretch yourself, because when you stretch yourself that’s when you grow. It’s so easy to be in that safe comfort zone, but I don’t believe you can actually experience the fullness of life by staying in that comfort zone. So that’s another part of why I decided to participate in this lip-sync battle,” Rish said.
After the competition, the judges decided on two winners and a tie. The first round’s winners were junior Maxwell Biggar and sophmore Kinlee Kropp. The second round’s winners were freshman Vincent Tamburo and freshman Cullen Van Ranst. The third round’s tie was between social studies teacher Cornelius Rish and the duo of junior Opal Warner and senior Cheyenne Himmer.
In the end, the lip-sync battle was a success. The participants had a blast creating their unique routines and performances. The crowd was overwhelmingly supportive during all of the amazing performances. Students and teachers all agree this was a creative, fun addition to BLAST week, and they hope the student council does this event again next year.
