Lip Service

Left: Clovis West High School principal Ben Drati won first place, followed by Daniel Chacon of Sanger, Jason Noll of Tracy, and David Stubbs of Patterson.





This sounds like an interesting contest:

MODESTO -- Principal Ben Drati was all smiles Saturday night.

For the second year in a row, his school Clovis West High School won the championship title and $2,500 in scholarship funds during the 22nd annual High School Principal Spanish Lip Sync contest at the Modesto Centre Plaza.

"It feels great to have won first place. I had big shoes to fill because the last two principals did very well in this competition. So I'm glad we came through," Drati said.

This was Drati's first year participating as principal; he had previous exposure as a dancer.

"Yeah, dancing was OK with me but the lip-synching part was definitely a challenge," he said while holding his crystal-like trophy.

His student Judy Vera, a first-time participant, was ecstatic about the win.

"It is so exciting to have won. Oh my gosh!" said Vera, 15, who admitted her nerves defied her.

...Sanger High School came in second place and won $2,000; Tracy High School took third and $1,500; and, Patterson High School took fourth place.

..."The biggest challenge we faced was the short time we had to prepare," said Jesús Guviano, 22, choreographer for Sanger High School.

Guviano, who is a professional dancer and has worked with Sanger High for seven years, said that second place at the championship, was not bad at all.

"My biggest satisfaction and the best gift of all are seeing what those kids did on that stage, especially because they are all beginners," Guviano said. "All I can say is wow!"
...Julio Bustos, advisor for the Clovis West folkloric dance team, has many years of experience with the lip sync contest. He helped choreograph two or three competitions back in the early 90s and has been with Clovis West since 2000.

For him, the challenge is trying to outdo the previous performances, he said. "We try to keep up the legacy from the previous generations," said Bustos.

And even though the students and advisor meet in September to brainstorm for the competition, he said there is one thing that seems to be the winning ticket for the school.

"We always try to bring something traditional. That is our trademark. We can do other stuff but our strongest is the traditional," he said.

...The annual lip sync contest was founded in 1987 by Mike Sturtevant and is organized by El Concilio for the Spanish Speaking. More than $800,000 in scholarship funds has been awarded since its inception.

Each competing school gets $1,000 in scholarships, while the winning school receives $2,500; $2,000 for second place; $1,500 for third place.

The competition requires each school principal to lip sync to a Spanish-language song while it features a cast of student dancers, costumes and elaborate backdrops.