Classes faced off in a “family feud” during Balloon Pop while dressed as different generations on Tuesday, April 25, the second day of Spring Spirit Week.

With the theme of Generations Day, each class dressed as a different life stage with the freshmen as babies, sophomores as angsty teens, juniors as the middle-aged working class and seniors as senior citizens.

As the second-period bell rang, students swarmed the cafeteria for the reveal of the daily scavenger hunt list. Tasked with finding highlighters, bunny ears and more, the hallways and stairs became crowded as students attempted to complete their list. In the end, the sophomores won, continuing their scavenger hunt winning streak with the seniors placing second, the juniors third and the freshmen in fourth.

Freshmen class vice-president Isabella San Filippo of Wall expressed that despite the freshmen coming in last for the second day in a row, they still are holding on to hope.

“Even though my class is in last place right now, I’m feeling optimistic about Spirit Week,” San Filippo said. “I know that everyone is doing their best and having fun which is what really matters.”

Minutes after the scavenger hunt ended, the second event of the day, Balloon Pop, commenced. After a dominating performance by the class of 2025 winning Cupcake Wars and both Daily Scavs so far, the senior class ended the sophomore event domination with Balloon Pop. 

Teams representing each grade, consisting of two girls and two boys, packed the make-shift arena until one junior stood against the two final seniors. Alliances served as useful weapons to eliminate the frontrunner sophomore class. In the end, seniors Jiachen Pan of Middletown and Luke Chrzan of Middletown defeated junior Kelly O’Toole of Manasquan. The seniors were followed by the juniors, sophomores and freshmen respectively.

“I honestly didn’t think I would make it past the first few minutes. I wasn’t really thinking at all. I just tried to play defense and sometimes gave into the adrenaline, but somehow it ended with me against 2 seniors,” O’Toole explained. “It was scary to be in there with 2 senior guys attacking me for a balloon, but it was probably one of my best CHS experiences and everyone did a great job.”

The overall standings remained constant from yesterday as the sophomore class is in first place with 130 points, followed by the seniors with 115 points, the juniors with 93 points and the freshmen with 70 points.

“I feel super confident going into the rest of the week. We have a pretty strong team lined up for the tech challenge,” Senior council member Katie Schwartz of Ocean said. “I can’t wait to see what we pull off.”

Wednesday marks the halfway point of Spring Spirit Week and it is still anyone’s game. The theme for tomorrow is PJ vs. Professional and the event is the Technical Challenge.