The energy in the gym is electrifying during Battle for the Paddle.
Lakeland High School (LHS) and Sandpoint High School (SHS) have been competing in the BFTP annually for many years.
LHS has won the paddle for five years in a row. We will be going on our sixth year taking home the paddle in 2025. This is a huge victory for the Hawks; we love showing it.
In the hallway by the office, LHS has put up a mural of the student body celebrating their most recent paddle win. It shows students of all ages gathered together with one shared look on their faces.
“The passion on their face,” Jimmy Hoffman, principal of LHS, said. That is what the huge blown-up picture in the lobby by the office shows.
This picture says more than “we won.” It shows pride in the Hawks’ identity and in this high school’s culture.
The students’ faces are filled with so many emotions: happiness, tears of joy, victory, and success.
“I wanted one picture to show so much of our school,” Hoffman said.
BFTP is an experience like no other. There is a feeling of excitement. Everyone comes together like one. This experience is perfectly portrayed in this one picture displayed in the heart of our school.
“There is a lot of adrenaline rush throughout the event, and it is so relieving when they announce we won,” Morgan Dickerson said.
That one shows so much powerful emotion among all the murals in this school.
It is a memorable moment for past students that will be there forever.
Students look forward to this event every year. But, with this event comes anxiety because we have won the past five years, and each year, there is a slight chance we may lose.
Should we ever lose? No, because we are the Lakeland Hawks, but there is also a chance.
“It is amazing to see our students come together for one common goal,” Hoffman said.
