Seniors Katie Cummins, Jasmine Nadim and Sami Barney won 1st place in the 49th annual Leonard J. Waxdeck Bird Calling Contest on April 4 in front of a sold out audience filled with students, families, and other members of the community.

“We’ve been working on it for a couple weeks, and a lot of the time was getting our costume together, rehearsing, but it’s all super fun,” Cummins said about their winning cockatiel call and skit.

As part of the introduction to each skit, the hosts, seniors Eli Nash and Alec Sieben, gave quick facts and cracked jokes about the birds, and played the call beforehand. Although each competitor weaved knowledge and jokes into the skit, the call itself remained important.

“We chose [the red-necked grebe] for its call,” senior Gabe Bolio said, who returned alongside Nash and senior James Clifford to defend last year’s first place title. “That’s how we chose last year. We choose a bird with an interesting call that is challenging and has multiple parts to it,” Bolio said. This year, They took second place.

Before developing a skit, competitors must first choose partners.

“It was just obvious that we’d be working together,” junior Elliot Gordon said. He and junior Walter Le Duy took third with their rendition of the Snowy Egret.

While the judges deliberated the winners, senior Cole Becker and juniors Lucy Faust and Apryl Hsu provided musical entertainment, including a medley of bird-influenced songs and a parody of “Let it Go” from Frozen.

The top three finishers will travel to New York City to be featured on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Cummins and Nadim are excited to visit New York.

“[Jasmine and I] have been to New York together before and had the best time in the world,” Cummins said. “It’s the perfect way to end senior year, going to New York with your best friends.”