{"id":41368,"date":"2026-03-31T12:50:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=41368"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:50:34","slug":"clash-of-the-halls-2026-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2026\/03\/31\/clash-of-the-halls-2026-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Clash Of The Halls 2026: Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, March 27th, marked the official end to this year\u2019s Clash of the Halls competition. Following a week of action-packed activities and months of preparation, I had the opportunity to interview Campus Activities Board (CAB) member Eric Chen (\u201827).<\/p>\n

Day 1: <\/b><\/p>\n

Monday opened with movie screenings for each hall. \u201cThe screenings went very well,\u201d said Eric, citing high engagement from the student body and “good audience retention.” CAB welcomed judges Dr. Eysturlid and Dr. Terry, whose scores both determined the final rankings as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 1503<\/li>\n
  2. 1506<\/li>\n
  3. 1502<\/li>\n
  4. 1505<\/li>\n
  5. 1507<\/li>\n
  6. 1504<\/li>\n
  7. 1501<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Despite this, some students felt that these rankings were unrealistic for 05 and 06, with a surprising win from 1503 leading to a bit of controversy to stoke the flames of competitiveness for the upcoming days.<\/p>\n

    Day 2: <\/b><\/p>\n

    Tuesday centered around the Talent Show, where each hall performed a unique talent. Speaking about the preparations for this event, Eric mentioned a \u201ccouple of problems,\u201d specifically with halls not having talents prepared before screening. Despite these setbacks, he wants to emphasize a \u201chuge round of applause\u201d for these halls for resolving their respective issues before the show. \u201cEvery single hall ended up having something to show, and all the halls had incredible talents,\u201d said Eric.<\/p>\n

    Despite a couple of technical issues with the sound system, which Eric emphasizes were beyond the control of IMSA Student Productions (ISP), we saw a variety of interesting acts. \u201cI never knew George Welson knew how to juggle,\u201d Eric said\u2014neither did I, Eric. Among these acts was 1505\u2019s dating show, a performance that was interesting<\/em> to behold. Eric himself personally performed, singing the intro song to Sofia the First<\/em> alongside 1504\u2019s Victor Fernandes, who performed Coldplay\u2019s “Yellow.”<\/p>\n

    Judging for the Talent Show was Mr. Rodrigo Sanchez and Ms. Tracy Townsend, with the final rankings as follows:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. 1506<\/li>\n
    2. 1505 & 1502<\/li>\n
    3. 1501<\/li>\n
    4. 1504<\/li>\n
    5. 1503<\/li>\n
    6. 1507<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Day 3: <\/b><\/p>\n

      Wednesday, which was an I-Day, was the day for judging all artistic submissions from the halls; this included the murals, hall decorations, t-shirts, and profile pictures. These were displayed in the CAC commons for students to browse during the day, and were judged by Mr. Grant Bell, Dr. Leah Kind, and Dr. Emily Gauld.<\/p>\n

      Each hall produced unique hall decorations to match their themes and colors: 1505 (DEM01LITION, Orange), 1502 (02 DOLLAR BILL, Green), 1503 (DISC03, Purple), 1504 (DR4GON, Yellow), 1505 (LOV5STRUCK, Red), 1506 (CY6ERPUNK, Blue), and 1507 (MYTHICA7 GARDENS, Pink).<\/p>\n

      1501\u2019s display showed an overturned hall commons, with warning and construction signs plastered on the demolished furniture. In 1502, a broken-into bank vault had strewn loose bills everywhere, and in 1503, a nightclub and disco dance floor was decorated with flowing streamers and soda cans (and Molly Federici\u2019s cardboard cutout). 1505\u2019s hall commons featured a romantic table seating with a computer program and webcam that would calculate your compatibility with your “significant” other. In 1506, blue-accented displays of technology were placed front and center. Finally, 1507\u2019s decorations featured an ethereal landscape with a gigantic dandelion in the center surrounded by greenery.<\/p>\n

      Mural Rankings:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. 1506<\/li>\n
      2. 1507<\/li>\n
      3. 1503<\/li>\n
      4. 1505<\/li>\n
      5. 1502<\/li>\n
      6. 1501<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        T-Shirt:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. 1506<\/li>\n
        2. 1501<\/li>\n
        3. 1507<\/li>\n
        4. 1502<\/li>\n
        5. 1503<\/li>\n
        6. 1505<\/li>\n
        7. 1504<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Propics:<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. 1506<\/li>\n
          2. 1501 & 1507<\/li>\n
          3. 1505<\/li>\n
          4. 1503<\/li>\n
          5. 1504<\/li>\n
          6. 1502<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Hall Decs:<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. 1505 & 1506 & 1507<\/li>\n
            2. 1503<\/li>\n
            3. 1502<\/li>\n
            4. 1501<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Speaking on the final rankings, Eric mentioned that while he agreed with other students that 1505 looked to be one of the most polished murals. Yet, what ultimately hurt their ranking was how they included the other hall\u2019s themes, which he said was an \u201cimportant part of the murals.\u201d<\/p>\n

              Day 4: <\/b><\/p>\n

              For Thursday, students participated in a campus-wide Think Tank. This featured a big set of problems created by CAB members. Each member took one section; for example, Eric himself worked on the science section. Overall, Eric felt the questions were well-designed, with almost every problem being solved by at least one hall. He also mentioned \u201cgreat participation and collaboration,\u201d making the event very enjoyable.<\/p>\n

              The questions are shared and can be found here: https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentationd\/1aW3dPlhAma0kstfkIA3hJRmApHvQod9BVvJJ1ttc8j8\/<\/a><\/p>\n

              The rankings for Think Tank are as follows:<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. 1505 & 1503<\/li>\n
              2. 1504<\/li>\n
              3. 1507<\/li>\n
              4. 1506<\/li>\n
              5. 1502<\/li>\n
              6. 1501<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                Day 5: <\/b><\/p>\n

                On Friday, the Clash Pep Rally took place in the main gym. The event started with the senior game, dodge ball, with the final winner being decided by a game of hot potato amongst the winning team from dodge ball. The event went smoothly, with Roy Wang stealing the show for 1505, introducing the interesting tactic of lofting the hot potato as high in the air as possible towards his opponent.<\/p>\n

                Speaking on why hot potato was used to choose the final winner, Eric mentioned that among CAB\u2019s considerations was safety and engagement\u2014no one would get injured playing hot potato (though it got pretty competitive at the end), and it would let every student participate. Ultimately, it made for great entertainment for the student body and ran smoothly for CAB.<\/p>\n

                Following the senior game was drill. Eric, describing his hall (1504)\u2019s performance, was proud to see how well it turned out. \u201c04 invested a lot of energy, and I\u2019m glad it turned out nice,\u201d he said. Similarly, 1506\u2019s performance was one that \u201cwe saw coming,\u201d explaining that 06 was \u201cvery locked in\u201d this year on their drill performance, which featured a cohesive, well-rehearsed choreography and a large turnout.<\/p>\n

                Despite the impressive performances across the board, some technical issues affected both 1505 and 1502\u2019s dances. To explain what went wrong, he mentioned that audio corruption for 1505\u2019s mix was due to the file being in an M4A format and not MP3; similarly, 1502 saw issues because of a mismatch in file names, leading to the wrong mix being played. \u201cEverything is a time crunch in March,\u201d Eric said, explaining that despite not having the chance this year, CAB is looking to run all the songs on the speaker system in advance next year to catch these issues.<\/p>\n

                This year\u2019s drill was judged by Dr. Patrick Buck, Dr. Brian Trainor, and Ms. Staci Marsden.<\/p>\n

                Riddle: <\/b><\/p>\n

                Throughout the week, the halls also worked to solve CAB\u2019s daily riddles. Eric himself designed Monday\u2019s riddle, which, in reflection, he mentioned was \u201cterribly designed\u201d and that “many people struggled with it.” However, he thinks that riddle as a whole was positive because it brought out one of the best elements of clash: competitiveness. He would also like to give a kind shout-out to everyone who sacrificed their math grade for riddle.<\/p>\n

                Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n

                At the conclusion of the week\u2019s festivities, the final clash rankings are:<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. 1506<\/li>\n
                2. 1505<\/li>\n
                3. 1503<\/li>\n
                4. 1502<\/li>\n
                5. 1507<\/li>\n
                6. 1501<\/li>\n
                7. 1504<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  Congratulations to 1506 for their win, and 1505 for their strong performance this year as well. Overall, this year\u2019s Clash was an overwhelmingly positive experience for all students who participated, with engagement and support from the students at a high level, and a relatively strong turnout from every hall.<\/p>\n

                  For Eric\u2019s final remarks: \u201cThank you to all the participants, it was fun to see everyone having a good time!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  Friday, March 27th, marked the official end to this year\u2019s Clash of the Halls competition. Following a week of action-packed activities and months of preparation,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1036,"featured_media":41369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2268,1019,2724],"tags":[2564,2568,2569,2570,2571,4600,1616,2679,1158],"coauthors":[4419],"class_list":["post-41368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humans-of-imsa","category-imsanews","category-news","tag-clash-day-1","tag-clash-day-2","tag-clash-day-3","tag-clash-day-4","tag-clash-day-5","tag-clash-2026","tag-clash-of-the-halls","tag-imsa-clash","tag-imsa-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1036"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41368"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41420,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41368\/revisions\/41420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41368"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=41368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}