In a tie situation there are usually two parties, one that believes that they should’ve been victorious and the other group that accepts the outcome. It was no different with this year’s homecoming float competition. Juniors were outraged with the surprising second place tie with the sophomores. There are many parts that went into deciding who came in second place. The judges were thinking about the dancing, the background design, and the skit.

This year’s homecoming float competition was very competitive, the seniors won first place while sophomores and juniors tied for second place, followed by the freshman who came in last. Many juniors believed that they should’ve been the only ones to come in second place. There were three main categories that went into judging the performances.

“We looked at the overall presentation, the dancing and the story behind the skit,” said Mr. Heu, one of the judges.

Juniors may have had flashy dance moves, but their storyline wasn’t as solid as the sophomores. However the sophomores had a better storyline that was more relatable. Their story had to do with the struggles of graduating high school and going into college. But the sophomore’s story consisted mainly about “growth mindset,” and “perseverance.” Their story appealed to the judges more than the juniors. The juniors storyboard however strayed away from metacognition and even reality. The juniors story was similar to a movie that was released in 1995, Jumanji. In the film like the skit, a board game came to life and caused trouble.

“I feel like the judging of the skit competition was very incorrect,” says junior Sean Khoth. This is one of many outraged juniors who believe that the juniors were cheated out of second place. However sophomores believe that outcome was correct.

“The juniors most likely got second place because of the prison backdrop with black students behind the bars. Just saying.” said sophomore Trung To.

“Having Hoover students behind jail bars doesn’t send the right message about Hoover,” stated Mr. Heu.

I’m inclined to agree with him because Hoover has had a reputation of students being “criminals” and having a jail background with Hoover students only adds on to that reputation. The class should have thought about who their audience was since there were many alumni. Their placement has nothing to do with favortism. Overall, the performances from all of the classes were wonderful. Juniors might have been unhappy, but that didn’t hamper their ability to enjoy the rest of homecoming day. There might have been a tie this year, but there can’t really be a tie two years in a row right?