This Thursday, Dec. 18, this school’s annual lip-sync performance competition, Putting On The Hits, more commonly known as POTH, will take place in the auditorium at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and $3 for participants, and can be purchased in the Commons during lunch on the day of the event, or at the event itself.

This year’s theme is “Emotions,” with the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior class performances representing anger, joy, love and nostalgia, respectively. Senior SGA member and POTH “head” Aiden Scherr said the group was “trying to get a theme that people could easily find songs to, and that [they] haven’t repeated in the past.” Additionally, “we wanted to try and get different aspects at the school that haven’t been in the dance before. With the counselors, we were able to incorporate them in the dances because of [the connection between counselors and emotions]. So it’s kind of like an inclusion thing,” Scherr said.

Inspiration was also drawn from pop culture, according to senior SGA member Megan Lomotan. “We were thinking of the movie Inside Out, and thought that each grade could resemble an emotion like the characters in Inside Out do,” Lomotan said.

There will be four winners crowned; one between the four classes, one between the clubs, one between the sports teams, and one awarded as the audience favorite. The winning class will receive a check for $100, as well as Patriot Points. Traditionally, these awards have been judged by a committee of faculty members, which this year includes science teacher Gavin Kramer and social studies teacher Anne-Marie Steppling.

Last year, POTH’s winners amongst the classes were the juniors, or the class of 2026, and SGA won the club award. Besides class performances, POTH is typically filled with performances from clubs and sports teams in particular, including large clubs such as National Honors Society and SGA, as well as teams like girls’ basketball and boys’ soccer. This year, one returning favorite is this school’s AfroElites dance team. “They’re always really good,” Scherr said. “SGA, we got a pretty good dance coming on, you gotta watch out for us.”

Lomotan also said AfroElites and SGA were groups for students to watch out for, as well as the girls’ basketball team, which she is a captain of.

Ahmed Ibrahim, another senior and SGA co-head of POTH, said that students should come to POTH to see their fellow students in a new light. “Watching all these people from school come together… it just fills me with so much joy. I love seeing everybody doing something that you wouldn’t normally see them doing in the hallways or like wherever. It just feels like the sense of community is very heightened when POTH comes around,” Ibrahim said.

Every year, POTH allows students from different groups and clubs to come together and compete in a light-hearted and entertaining way. “It’s a really funny competition and it’s fun to see the creative dances that groups come up with,” Lomotan said.