On March 10, West Chicago Community High School’s National Honor Society will bring back its annual badminton tournament. Students and staff will compete in the tournament, which will take place in the Bishop Gym, for the chance to win a gift card and the “Golden Birdie.”

This year’s tournament kicks off at 6:30 p.m., though teams must check-in at least 30 minutes beforehand. To participate, it is required that attendees come in pairs of two. In previous tournaments, only competitors were able to watch the tournament and be part of the event, limiting the rivalry between groups. However, parents, other students and community members are welcome to view the competition and cheer on their favorite teams.

Additionally, staff are encouraged to form their own teams: no previous experience required.

“Just for fun because my friend and I are definitely not badminton players, but we are just looking for some fun,” said dean’s assistant and study hall teacher Britta Renwick, who is competing this year.

“We know during PE class, sometimes teachers love to join in to play against the students, and we figure that this year it will be a good idea to also include staff in this school. They can team up with another staff [member], or with a student, and then go against other staff or students. Overall, we really hope that it works out. We do have some teachers that are looking for partners, so if anybody wants to, reach out,” said Maritsa Romero, a member of NHS and the head of the badminton committee.

The winners of the tournament this year will receive a “Golden Birdie” as a trophy, and a $25 Amazon gift card.

However, some students believe that a greater prize would attract more participants, and make the tournament a more enjoyable experience.

“I felt last year’s badminton tournament was really fun. One thing I would kind of wished they changed is instead of gift cards, I kind of prefer cash, just because it’s more suitable for a lot of people. They can spend the money however they like. And make the amount of money won higher, like around fifty bucks,” said senior Rodrigo Alcantar.

After two members of the badminton team, former students Jaylee Siu and Dana Amer, won, National Honor Society debated changing the rules of this year’s tournament. Attempts to level any differences that could be seen as unfair by participants were discussed at the chapter’s February meeting.

“So, originally, we planned on anyone who goes against members of the girls’ badminton team, that we would just bump up their score to like two or three points for the non-badminton players. Now, we are thinking of just having girls going against each other first and knocking them out in the first round so it will be easy for everyone else. That way, it won’t be difficult to other players, and they can’t say it’s unfair,” said Romero.