At North Penn, the holiday season means tradition. And while the hanging of light bulbs in the hallway and the singing of the Hallelujah chorus at the end of the Winter Concert are well known among students and staff, there’s another tradition that has taken root in NPHS within the past decade: the English Department’s annual Vocab Bowl, held this past Wednesday during second and third periods in the auditorium.

Now in its ninth year, the Vocab Bowl was started almost a decade ago by English teacher Ellen McKee, with the support of her fellow 4.0 11th grade English teachers Kevin Manero, Rebecca Poole, Amy Young, and Lisa Lawler. Throughout the years, that network of support has grown to include the teachers who also brought their classes down to the auditorium to participate in this year’s event, with Richard Smith, Phuong Huynh, Megan Schmidt, and Lindsey Edwards enthusiastically taking part in this tradition.

Looking around the auditorium Wednesday at the students laughing with their classmates between rounds of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank vocab questions, which participants from each class took turns answering via remotes located in the front row of seats, it was easy to forget that the event was a competition rooted in an often dreaded class assignment. However, the amount of questions answered correctly revealed the hard work that students had put into the day.

“To me, Vocab Bowl is all about the preparation,” said event mastermind and participating teacher Ellen McKee. “For the past month [in my classes], we have been using giant flashcards, and we go right through the rows [of desks]. So [students] either have to know the words or they have to pass, and it gets very awkward if they don’t know their words.”

This do-or-die mentality only serves to increase the excitement for the event, held as a competition between all 4.0 level junior year English classes.

“At first, the students look at us [teachers] like we’re crazy. But then the spirit of competition takes over and it just becomes so much fun and we just have such great memories of the days we were preparing,” McKee said, adding that this year her classes were able to run through their words in record time.

All of that preparation results in an exciting day for students and the “celebrity guests” who join in on answering the vocab questions. This year, special guests included the likes of principal Todd Bauer and science teacher Robert Shea.

“It’s very different but cool,” said Sheridan Shempp, a member of one of Mr. Richard Smith’s classes. “I think my favorite part is that you get to see all of the classes together and see everybody [compete against] each other.”

Between the vocab questions, participants were also provided the opportunity to answer some (mostly) holiday themed trivia questions. As emcee Kevin Manero announced each question, students eagerly raised their hands and hoped to be called on, with those who answered questions correctly given the choice between receiving a Wawa gift card or a candy bar.

Perhaps the highlight of the event was the dance-off, which was open to any student who wished to participate. As about ten students excitedly hopped on stage and took their turns dancing to Silento’s hit song “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” the energy in the audience skyrocketed.

“It was really fun to dance in front of all of these people, all of my friends,” said dance-off participant Jonathan Klaus, smiling while accepting congratulations from his classmates and teachers. “I like showing off,” he added. Klaus later claimed second place for his class as the winner of a tiebreaker round, in which he represented his class against two other classes that had also tied for second place.

The final event of the day was the individual competition, a Vocab Bowl staple since the event’s first year. Most students went up to take part, giving a quick definition to a word randomly chosen from all of the words they have studied so far this school year.

In addition to the annual Vocab Bowl, the English Department also holds Lit Fest for all junior honors English students every February to celebrate the novels and plays students read in class. Started in 2013, this year the Lit Fest will be held for the fourth year.

“We didn’t know if [students] were going to be willing to go in front of everybody and give it a go,” said McKee. “That first year, when we invited those interested in the individual competition to come up and we had a line of fifty kids, it was just a great moment because we knew that they were buying into this and that they felt comfortable enough and secure in their knowledge.”

At the end of the event, the announcement of the winners came with a little more drama than usual when it was revealed that there was a three-way tie for second place between McKee and Poole’s sixth period class, Manero and Young’s seventh period class, and Smith and Young’s fifth period class. Each class then had to choose one representative to go on stage and give a definition (for the first round) and a sentence (for the second round) for the word they were shown. After a quick effort by Jonathon Klaus, McKee and Poole’s sixth period class was proclaimed second place winners.

However, it was McKee and Poole’s fifth period class that claimed the 2015 Vocab Bowl glory, a distinction that brought joy to both the class’s teachers and students. Posing in the front of the auditorium for a victory picture, medals swinging proudly from their necks, the class eagerly talked about plans for a class party to celebrate their victory.

As the event drew to a close and volunteers from McKee’s AP English class cleaned up the auditorium, the focus shifted to planning next year’s event.

“We’re gonna be working on some surprises for the tenth Vocab Bowl,” promised McKee. “We’re gonna have some guests, some bigger prizes… we’re bumping it up a notch.”