Christopher Samuel (Assistant Editor ‘26)
The Senior-Sibling Assembly is a staple Friends’ Central tradition. This year’s contestants were Paz and Charlie Sorg, Sylvie and Lucas Hoffman, Chloe and Penelope English, and Eli and Julia Sparrow. Usually, only freshman-senior sibling pairs are allowed to join the assembly, but this year, Student Council let sophomore-sibling duos join in the fun. Chloe and Penelope, a senior and sophomore pair, made good on this opportunity and won this year’s assembly. They agreed to an interview to recount their experiences participating in the event.
The assembly opened with a talent show with all four duos. Chloe and Penelope’s opening act was a lip-synced performance of “I’m Just Ken,” from Barbie, which received the most uproarious applause out of any of the sibling pairs. When asked where they got their inspiration for the dance, the sisters explained that they had intended to do “Dance the Night,” also from Barbie, but favored the simpler choreography found in “I’m Just Ken.”
They also thought the song was more lighthearted, meaning small mistakes could be funny. Unfortunately, the Sorgs’ Cup Song performance did not garner enough applause to keep them in the competition, and they were eliminated.
The next round was trivia. One sibling from each pair was asked a question about their sibling while the other wrote their answer down. If the answers matched, the pair got a point. The round’s signature incredulous outbursts and infectious joy descended upon the room immediately. As questions were asked and answered, Eli and Julia were regrettably left behind, unable to match up their answers.
With only two duos left — the Englishes and the Hoffmans — a dance-off was the event to determine the winner. Each pair would take half the stage to show their best moves, and the crowd’s cheering would decide whose dancing was best. Chloe and Penelope did not enjoy this part as much, but their performance was enough to win out over the Hoffman siblings. The crowd’s deafening applause named them the decisive winners of the competition.
The interview with the English sisters lends additional clarity of their experience in the assembly. While the audience may only have seen their awesome performances, they were both nervous at the start. Soon, though, they began to have fun once on stage and performing and shook off their fears, playing off of each other throughout this one-of-a-kind experience. Of course, their confidence was only bolstered by the crowd’s joyous reception of their dance. They shared that while they did win, they did not see the assembly as a competition. They simply wanted to have fun and perform “I’m Just Ken” for the school.
This year’s Senior-Sibling Assembly was extremely fun and a strong display of our school community’s support for its members. It would not have been possible without the brave pairs of siblings who signed up and their amazing performances. Let’s hope that future renditions of this assembly can be just as perfect a balance of community-building and fun.