With every school dance at Blue Valley, there comes one thing in particular students look forward to: class competitions. Whether it’s dressing up for “Disney-Pixar Day,” decorating teachers’ doors or dancing in front of the whole school, students find a variety of ways to get ahead of the other grades.
Sophomore Catherine Eatherly said she loves participating in class competitions, and she doesn’t think it should cause any problems between the students.
“It’s supposed to be fun, and it is fun,” she said. “I think it’s just healthy compe- tition between all of the grades. I mean, I don’t know if it’s 100 percent fair, but I think [the judges] do their best. It’s not going to be perfect.”
Student council member senior Courtney Woodworth said it has always been controversial between students as to whether or not the competition is fixed.
“I feel like people tend to be like, ‘Oh, it’s rigged because the seniors always win,’” she said. “I don’t think there have been any huge conflicts because of it, I think there have just been some petty people that get upset.”
Junior Kelly O’Donnell said it’s common for the seniors to win the class competitions, but she’s still skeptical if the competition is rigged or not.
“[Winning is] what every senior experiences, and it’s something to look
forward to, so I don’t really think it’s rigged,” she said. “Every single year the seniors have had a lot of participation, so I think that’s what it is. I don’t know — maybe it is rigged — we’ll find out.”
Eatherly said she enjoys getting ahead of the upperclassmen, especially the seniors.
“I think it’s fun knowing [the sopho- mores] can beat [the seniors] because usually you would think that when you’re a senior they would always win,” she said.
Woodworth said BV has a strong senior class, and they do what it takes to win the competitions. “If we fall behind, we’ll definitely find some way or make a plan to get ahead again,” she said.
O’Donnell said she thinks the fresh- man think the class competitions are unimportant, so they don’t partake in any of them.
“My freshman year, everyone par- ticipated, but [this year’s freshmen] just don’t participate,” she said. “You don’t realize until, like, junior year that you don’t look like an idiot if you don’t do things [for spirit days].”
Woodworth said she thinks the freshman’s worry of looking stupid is the reason behind their lack of participation in the competitions.
“As you get older, and by older I mean growing up through the high school ranks or whatever, I feel like you participate because it’s fun and all your friends do it,” Woodworth said. “But as a freshman, you’re just kind of like, ‘What if I look stupid?’”
Freshman Jeff Gurley said the fresh- men class still has time to grow through- out their high school experience.
“It’s a little bit disappointing that we don’t have that much spirit to show but at the same time we are the freshmen, but we do need to kind of step our game up. I think over [the] next year we’ll do better, and then junior year and senior year everyone will start doing it,” he said. “Just because we’re freshmen, I guess intimidation plays a factor.”
Eatherly said class pride is an impor- tant part of spirit day competitions, and it creates a good school environment.
“It does create a good vibe,” she said. “Everyone likes to see what their friends are wearing, and it can be really funny. It’s really special the week before a dance.”
O’Donnell said the junior class comes together during the class compe- titions regardless of the circumstances.
“We have a kick-ass junior class,” she said. “We take it super seriously, so it feels really good to beat people.”
Eatherly said the competition is more interesting when everyone participates.
“For the most part, everybody gets involved, and it can be really fun when you go all-out,” she said.
Woodworth said the students’ spirit makes the competitions more fun.
“I think we are all a group of very fired up individuals,” Woodworth said. “Together, we just create a really nice atmosphere for spirit days — because we actually participate, because we love Blue Valley.”