MS. HELD THRILLS THE JUDGES

By JOHN STEINMANN

On Thursday, December 22nd, Washingtonville’s class 2018 hosted its second annual lip sync battle competition comprised of several of the high school’s teachers. The contest, hosted by junior Brendan Hogan, included volunteer teachers that performed songs of their choice often with student dancers joining in the fun. This made the whole event a team effort. Each teacher, or group of teachers,  performed in front of a very impressive audience as well as four judges. Judges for the battle included Bella Cosentino, Tom Lawless, Taylor Hackett, Lavonte Footman, and a special guest judge, former Washingtonville High School guidance counselor Ms. Cooney.

JOHN STEINMANN FOR WIZARD WEEKLY

If you did not attend the competition, you may not know, but the winner of the 2016 lip sync battle was Ms. Lara Held.  Ms. Held had an outstanding performance and received a justified win. Ms. Held said that she had been preparing for this year’s competition almost as soon as last year’s ended when, sadly, she did not win. She came into this year’s competition confident, prepared and very enthusiastic … and it all payed off as she came out on top.  Ms. Held’s performance included three different songs: “I want you back”, “Beat it”, and “Thriller” all sung by the one and only Michael Jackson. Ms. Held, of course, did not do this alone. These three songs were performed with the help of fifteen of Washingtonville’s very own student dancers. There were also several other students helping out with costumes, which Ms. Held had to change twice throughout the performance, along with makeup, lighting and sound. 

Some of the judges may have had a hard time deciding who the winner of the 2016 lip sync battle would be, but not judge Tom Lawless. Tom had this to say about the competition, “Ms. Held really proved to the judges that handwork does pay off.  We clearly could tell she stepped it up from last year’s performance and spent a lot of time rehearsing.  After her performance, the judges knew she got first place so we could just start judging for second.” The judges, as well as the audience, are in suspense for next year’s performance and hope it will be just as entertaining. As to whomever is trying to take Ms. Held’s title of lip sync battle champion, good luck!