At the end of the 2014 homecoming rally on Oct. 17, it was announced that the class of 2016 had won the rally. The juniors stormed the floor of the gym in celebration. However, this was not the true result as the announcer committed an error in reporting the winner. In reality, the class of 2015 won the rally, making it the third year in a row that the seniors had won. The announcer quickly clarified the mistake, saying that the seniors were actually the winners, but the chaos of the juniors’ celebration made it difficult for this second announcement to be heard.

“All that happened was that it was a mistake,” junior class treasurer Arpit Jasapara said after school. “People make mistakes; no big deal.”

Rather than having the regularly scheduled announcements during fifth period, ASB president Anna Tedijanto issued an apology to the class of 2016 and then passed the microphone to the junior class officers who acknowledged that the announcement was unintentional and expressed their forgiveness.

Assistant Principal Mike White also said that the error was an inadvertent mistake, possibly caused by a lack of focus.

In almost all rallies, the announcer calls fourth place, then third place and finally second place. To build suspense for the final call when two classes are waiting to hear their fates, the announcer will begin to point to the winners and at the last second point to the runners-up. According to White, the announcer was attempting to continue that tradition but had a lapse in concentration, which led to the mistake.

“It was unintentional,” White said. “[The announcer] went for the psych.”

Even the senior class officers picked up on this error and understood that the mistake wasn’t intentional.

“When [the announcer] said, ‘Second place goes to the seniors,’ [the presenter] was looking at the juniors so [the host] didn’t mean it,” senior class president Priscilla Phua said.