Seniors take the championship in this year’s BOTG

On April 5th, QHSS SGO hosted their annual event, Battle of the Grades, where students teams from each grade compete in multiple sports. The grade with the highest number of points receives the winning title. Every year, this event gets super competitive, as students anticipate the upcoming student athletes that represent their grade. Every year the event has badminton, volleyball, and basketball games, but this year, SGO decided to implement soccer as a new sports event. The event also had a special volleyball game between a couple teachers versus students from SGO, as well as an annual K-pop performance, this year with two songs and backup dancers!

Surprisingly, all the winning teams had little to no preparation coming into the games. “We didn’t practice at all…it’s our first time playing together.” said juniors Rianne Rodeo and Daseong Kim, winners of the badminton games. The duo truly showed their extensive skills, as their match against the sophomores was a clean 11-1 win. However, regardless of their success, they remained humble and high spirited towards the other grades.

Although many games displayed a clear victory for the upperclassmen, there were a selection of heated games that kept the crowd’s on their toes. This was displayed during the soccer tournaments, a new sport introduced for BOTG this year. The first game was somewhat calm, as the seniors won 4-1 against the sophomores and the juniors won 3-2 against the freshmen. However, the game took a turn once the upperclassmen versed each other. Both teams endeavored in an intense match, with some unexpected injuries. Luckily, no one was hurt and the seniors emerged with a 2-1 win. It was the first win the seniors had so far, breaking the junior’s winning streak.

“It was a little bit [stressful] but not that much difference.” says senior Maris Agris, when asked how she felt during the intense match. “My twin brother was playing, so it was more natural, since we play all the time.”

After a series of intense sports matches, the event mellows down with a couple fun performances hosted by the K-pop club. The QHSS K-pop club performed iconic songs “Attention” and “Super Shy” by the famous K-pop group, Newjeans. The club also introduced a total of eleven backup dancers, which surprised the group at the end of their performance. From their refreshing, sports themed outfits to their powerful, energetic dance moves, the QHSS K-pop truly surprised the crowd. The main dancers, Selina Zhou, Rhea Seong, Phoebe Ni, Amber Kim, Joyce Lin and Katelyn Oh, practiced countless hours after school to prepare for the performance. “We met at a studio for about four hours and we also practiced after school in our own time for about two to three.” says senior Selina.

During the hustle and bustle from our student athletes, each grade showed their school spirit throughout the tournament. The gymnasium was filled with each grade’s representative colors; green, purple, orange, and blue. Many students were tying their shirts into flags, recording videos of the student athletes, and overall, interacting with students from other grades. “Soccer was a great event…I’m glad they did soccer (this year) …the intensity is up (this year)!” Mr. Zhang,a former math teacher, says.

Despite the tense and prolonged games, the seniors triumphantly wins this years Battle of the Grade, the graduating class first ever win at the tournaments.