Mrs. Santana and the FCCLA hosted the annual JFK lip-sync battle which took place on Feb. 4 in the auditorium. Teachers, students and internet personality Jersey Joe captivated the audience with their energetic performances.
Students voted for their favorite teacher performance and best battle of the classes performance. Mr. Viteri and the senior class took home the wins in the competition.
Mrs. Santana explains her love for the annual fundraiser
Mrs. Santana has been hosting this event for the past six years. She describes the lip-sync battle as an event that “brings the culture of our school together.”
“This is absolutely my favorite event to host because I think if I was in high school, I would have loved to see my teachers on stage dressed up, acting funny and singing along,” Mrs. Santana said. “Making you guys laugh [students], and showing you a side of teachers that you don’t normally see, is exciting to me.”
Mrs. Santana notes that this event allows the audience to engage in a magical way where students are unplugging from social media and living in the moment, using their phones only as flashlights to interact with the dances.
Is the show easy to run? Think again
Unfortunately, staff and students behind the scenes faced some hiccups along the way as many teachers had to drop their acts due to last minute changes. However, the JFK FCCLA students persevered as they stepped up and dressed in inflatable costumes and opened the show with a performance that left the crowd roaring with laughter.
According to Mrs. Santana, this year’s student acts topped those of all previous years as they poured their hearts and souls into their performances. She expresses how much time and effort went into preparing for the show by both her students, onstage and offstage, and by herself.
“My FCCLA kids usually stayed after school for hours, just planning, rehearsing and helping me make costumes for the performances,” Mrs. Santana states. “We spent anywhere from 20 to 30 extra hours to prepare for this event.”
Proceeds from the lip-sync battle go toward JFK’s FCCLA chapter, whose main initiative is always to give back to the community. The money raised from this year’s battle is going to help pay for their bus to the state leadership conference, which falls at a costly price of $2,200. They successfully fundraised a total of $2,003.11 to help reach their goal.
However, because Woodbridge Township School District requires security checks for school events that are open to an audience outside of just JFK students, a $400 fee was charged. After this deduction, the total profits turned out to be $1,603.11.
Alumni bring out a special guest
Alongside the teachers, Mrs. Santana tried her best to convince the JFK alumni, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Budzaku, Mr. Powers and Mr. Balle to perform. Mr. Salazar had offered to reel in his good friend and TikTok sensation, Jersey Joe, for the ultimate lip-sync finale.
The alumni started their performance off with a throwback to Mr. Salazar’s Mr. JFK performance from 2020, using inflatable saxophones and guitars and lip-syncing to the song “Tequila.” They brought out Jersey Joe and all other performers, who riled up the crowd by performing his viral TikTok dances to “The Veggie Dance” and “The Cha-Cha.”
Jersey Joe’s favorite JFK memories include running of the halls and Mr. JFK, which took place on the same stage he performed on for this year’s battle.
“I’m excited to come back to JFK because I missed out on many milestones during my senior year in 2020, like prom, project grad and graduation day,” Jersey Joe said.
The 2025 lip-sync battle turned out to be a huge success, as students, staff, and alumni showed up and showed out. A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Santana, JFK’s FCCLA and Jersey Joe for making this possible!
