As senior year begins and Homecoming Week comes earlier than usual, I approach the most important day of my life: Battle of the Classes 2K9.

For those freshman/non-spirited people out there, BOTC is an event during Spirit Week where five boys and five girls represent their grade and compete in a variety of events.

For the past three years, I’ve been one of those five boys and I can tell you that it’s probably one of the most exciting/fun/awesome events all year.

As a senior, I thought I’d pass on some advice: TRY OUT FOR BOTC.

From experience, to have a crowd of over a hundred people cheering you on and yelling your name is exhilarating. There simply isn’t any other school event, sporting or otherwise, where that same enthusiasm is present. And even if you don’t make the team, just being at the event is thrilling. Let me put it this way: I’ve never been able to talk properly the day after BOTC because I yelled so much the night before. I’m sure many of the spectators can say the same.

Two of the most memorable events are the obstacle course and the tug of war. When we run the obstacle course, we’re basically animals. We don’t care about hitting ourselves with the jump rope as long as we do it as quickly as possible and we relish the burns we get from sliding on the ground because it just means we were going as fast as we could. You get a huge adrenaline rush that lets you ignore the pain and push yourself to the extreme.

BOTC has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my high school career. For those of you out there who haven’t tried out or gone to the event, just do it. I guarantee you’ll enjoy yourself. I did.

For more information about Battle of the Classes, go to http://www.whitmansga.com/.

Tryouts are September 15! Be there.