Each year, the Rockbridge County High School National Honor Society hosts its annual Lip Sync Battle. The Lip Sync Battle allows students to get together with their friends, put together a mashup of music, and perform it in front of a panel of judges.
This year, the Lip Sync Battle was hosted on Friday, Feb. 27, in the RCHS auditorium. NHS adviser and English teacher Stephanie Brooks was in charge of orchestrating the event for the fifth year.
Brooks rejoices in knowing that the funds raised go to a good cause. “The most rewarding part overall is donating all of the proceeds to Cystic Fibrosis and knowing that our hard work will go to a good cause,” Brooks said.
A lot goes into putting on the lip sync, including raising funds, recruiting acts, and finding judges. NHS members contact local businesses for donations, and advertisements are placed around the school building.
Brooks shared the most important step in planning the event.
“The most important step is recruiting acts to be in Lip Sync. This is a struggle every year. Prior to Covid, we would have 20-25 acts in the performance; now we are lucky if we have 8-10 acts,” Brooks said.
A group called The Lip Syncers, consisting of Presley Brzostek, EJ Clement, Ava Crocker, Lola Mulitalo, Geneva Snyder and June Wilson, received first place in this year’s contest.
Group member junior Geneva Snyder explained the preparation that went into their performance: “On the Sunday before Lip Sync, we met at Presley’s Brostek’s house, made our music, and began choreographing During the fourth period on Tuesday and Wednesday, we choreographed our dance. We practiced again on Wednesday night, and then we felt pretty good about our dance.
“We had so much fun practicing, choreographing, and performing together,” Snyder continued. “After we won, we took our money and bought dinner at Don Tequila’s. We splurged and bought Shirley Temples, virgin margaritas, and queso dip. It was overall such a fun night with friends.”
The group that placed second was the The Dabbers, which was made up of Ella Cate Brown, Presley Brzotek, Olivia Hickman, Summer Hull, Elsa Kerin-Rice, Libby Pearson Annalee Penny and Claire Sigler. The Boys, which consisted of Noah Alexander, Ethan Erskine, Henry Hirt, Fisher Howald and Thomas Jones, received third place. RCHS technology specialist Mike Patterson won People’s Choice.
NHS officers coordinate and play a significant role in putting on the lip sync. Secretary Willow Rogers was in the officer act as well as an act with her friends.
“It is so rewarding to get to see everyone having fun together. I was able to see all of these groups of friends come together and just have fun. So many people worry about being embarrassed when it comes to Lip Sync but seeing everyone get out there and just enjoy it was amazing,” Rogers said.
The NHS lip sync brings a fun time to the RCHS student body and helped raise roughly $1,700 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
THE DABBERS
THE BOYS
