By: Teri Bradford

Paintbrushes have been put away, songs have been sung, and Chatham University’s 2017 Battle of the Classes has concluded. The results are as follows:
The annual Chatham tradition kicked off on Sunday, September 24 with a Fifth Avenue trash clean up. Points were given to classes based on participation and how many pounds of trash they acquired. Juniors came in first, followed by first-years, and ending with sophomores and seniors tied for third.
After the trash clean up, one of the most coveted BOTC events, Window Painting, took place in Anderson. Seniors took on “one more round” at Chatham with a femme boxer surrounded by senior capstone and tutorial, coffee, beer, and their diploma.  Juniors filled their window with iconic symbols from famous fandoms like Batman and even Apple, Inc. Sophomores took us to the country life and painted Rachel Carson on a tractor saying “What in tarnation?” Finally, the first-years came in strong with a 90’s sitcom theme that was as clever as it was nostalgic. Seniors took home the first place title, sophomores came in second, and juniors came in third, while first-years came in fourth.
On Wednesday of BOTC week, the Mystery Event took place on the quad. It consisted of three components: an egg drop, two relay races, and a game of musical chairs. Sophomores were the only class successful in saving their egg during the egg drop and won the first relay race, though seniors won the second. First years and juniors battled it out to win the last musical chair, but juniors came out on top. Overall, sophomores and juniors tied for first in this competition.
Finally, the most anticipated part of BOTC, Song Contest, concluded the spirited week.  Drag queens Boston Michaels and Miley Michaels emceed this event, where Chatham students change lyrics to popular songs into Chatham related anecdotes.

First-years sang about their first experiences on campus through 90’s theme songs, poking fun at the emphasis Chatham puts on being a family. Sophomores took their theme from Window Painting and used country songs to express the pain of walking up the apartment stairs, losing your ID, and taking a trip to one of the only 18 and over clubs in Pittsburgh, Cruze Bar, only to be worried about not doing homework. Juniors used fandoms as their theme, performing songs like the viral Harry Potter YouTube video “Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise,” but making changes like using “Finegold” for “Dumbledore” and “Ron Weasley” for “Devin Fabien”, our Assistant Director of Residence Life and Student Activities. Finally, the seniors took their boxing theme and framed their performance as a boxing match: seniors vs. their senior year. The seniors took on senioritis to the tune of “Beat it” by Michael Jackson, capstone writing to the tune of “Kung-Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas, and graduation to the tune of “One Way or Another” by Blondie.
After performances by the talented drag queen emcees, judges concluded that seniors took first place, followed by the juniors in second, sophomores in third, and first years in fourth. For participation during the week, seniors also took first place, first years took second place, juniors came in third, and sophomores came in fourth.
At the BOTC reveal party in Rea Coffehouse, Dana Depasquale and Emily Fidago announced that seniors won BOTC overall. Though it was the class of 2018’s final BOTC, the other classes will be back to battle it out next year.