BY DIGHAN KELLY
Staff Writer

The audience cheered when seniors Tony Thornton and Shane Perko accepted their victory for best lip sync, clad in long bright floral dresses and long flowing wigs.

“My mom won’t even wear that dress anymore, because she says I looked better in it,” Thornton said afterward.

On Jan. 20, the first lip sync competition was sponsored by the senior class. The winners were Thornton and Perko, who danced to the 1982 hit by The Weather Girls, “It’s Raining Men.”

Several other groups performed throughout the night, such as students who cartwheeled across the stage and a teacher-student group decked out in Spice Girls fashion.

English teacher Michelle Jenkins and the rest of the “Spice Girls” lip synced to the popular song “Wannabe.”

“It went wonderfully. My group and I had lots of fun,” Jenkins said. “I was Sporty Spice.”

Sophomore Alex Butelli acted as the fox in a duet version of Ylvis’ “What Does The Fox Say?”

“I saw it as a cool way to get involved, and I thought that the more people who did it this year, the more there would be for next year,” Butelli said.

The idea for this unique event started with Thornton, but it was inspired by a similar event on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that featured Fallon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, among others.

“I saw that Jimmy Fallon had done a lip syncing contest, so I thought we could do that, too,” Thornton said.

Although the event went smoothly, there were several obstacles throughout the course of the night. The contest took up only half of its two-hour time slot, due to a lot of last-minute changes in the lineup of competitors.

“We had about 10 dropouts, which was awkward. But there was a big turnout, and it was pretty fun,” Thornton said.

Contestants had a few suggestions, should the event become a yearly tradition.

“It’d be fun to see some onstage judges who could dress up and mirror famous TV judges,” Jenkins said.

Ultimately, participants agreed that they would compete again if there is another contest next year.

“I’d do it again for sure,” Butelli said. “I’ll be more prepared this time.”

Thornton said he hopes the event lives on.

“I want to come back and see the auditorium full of people, and tons of acts filling up the whole two-hour time slot,” Thornton said.