The battle has begun. The Thunder Cup is back. The competition is more intense than ever as all grades compete for the prize of a trip to Adventure Islands. The first set of events took place August 23 in the Thunderdome. Three familiar rocking events started off the year: the crazy Spelling Bee, the wild Hanky Panky, and the off the court Office Tennis.

Thunder Cup is a competition between each of the grades through a series of events and games. Each grade gets a different amount of points depending on how they placed: 1^st (25 points); 2^nd(15 points); 3^rd(10 points); or 4^th (5 points). At the end of the year, the grade with the most points will be rewarded with the trip to Adventure Island.

The winner of the Spelling Bee was Catherine Williams of the junior class. Following behind her were the sophomores in 2^nd and the seniors in 3^rd. In this competition, two people form each grade competed against each other until there was only one remaining speller. The words were drawn randomly to be sure there was no unfairness.

For Hanky Panky, Trevor Gorji of the freshman class took 1^st while the sophomores followed in 2^nd and the juniors trailed behind in 3^rd. In Hanky Panky,  a person from each grade stands at a table with four tissue boxes. The objective is to take out the tissues one by one and the first person to get to the bottom wins.

Olivia Kuebler and Andrew Berg of the freshman class won the last event, Office Tennis. The juniors placed 2^nd while the seniors came in 3^rd. Office Tennis involves two players from each grade using a clipboard to try and hit a ping pong ball back and forth all the way down into a trash can. The event is timed, and the team with the best time is victorious.

With her team’s victory Olivia Kuebler said,  “She felt surprised but satisfied with the way her and Andrew used their teamwork.”

Andrew on the other hand said  “I had the best technique and was the key component in our teams victory.”

Most of the events from last year’s Thundercup competition will be returning, but there are rumors of new mysteries and competitions to unravel.

Mr. Brewer, head of Thunder cup, said, “I have some new ideas floating around up there and just waiting to find a time to be used. I have a marshmallow gun in my room and maybe that will come into play sometime. New ideas just keep pouring in. Some come from students while others come from teachers. My doors always open and if anyone has any bright ideas.”

The first three events of Thunder Cup really set the zone for the year. What a great way to start.