The yearly male pageant returns in the theater Jan. 25 at 7 p.m., when 13 contestants will battle for the Mr. WHS crown. The competition consists of a group dance, style, talent and a on-stage question.

While Mark MacDonald is competing for the fourth consecutive year, this is a first-time experience for the majority of the competitors, including Adam O’Brien.

“I’ve thought about it since freshman year, and this year I guess I finally just got the confidence to do it. I’m excited to compete with all the other guys and show everyone watching what my personality is like,” O’Brien said.

Peter Liu is also a first-time contestant who signed up after a bet with his friend; he will display his stand-up comedy skills during the talent portion with jokes he wrote a week ago.

“I haven’t practiced since the jokes only work once, but I’m looking forward to embarrassing myself in front of a crowd,” Liu said.

The contestants aren’t the only people who will be experiencing a first that night. The event is one of Whitney High Student Media’s largest fundraisers; with the profits, the program is able to print “The Roar” and help offset the yearbook printing bill. To produce the event, the student leaders and volunteers from WHSM, who may not have any theater or production background, are moved out of their element and exposed to new skills and responsibilities. As publicity committee leader, Cameryn Oakes produced a video to promote the event.

“For WHSM, I usually only take photos and write stories, so making a video to post was way out of my comfort zone. Besides that, the overall publicity factor is something that differs from my regular work. The only publicity I usually work on is for distributing our media, something that happens every month or so, while this is nonstop social media posting, poster distribution and other miscellaneous tasks to get the word out about the Mr. WHS competition,” Oakes said.

All students can be involved by coming to the show to support the participants and by voting. Putting coins and dollars into buckets for the respective competitors at lunch or the show makes contestants gain or lose points. For example, placing a nickel in a contestant’s bucket will cause him to gain 5 points, while $1 will cause him to lose 100 points.

The event will feature teachers as guest judges and the Voices of Whitney, Xzavier Caldwell and Amaya Gregory, as hosts.

“I’ve gone [to Mr. WHS] every year, and this year I think we have some real special and different participants that people aren’t gonna wanna miss,” Caldwell said.  

Tickets are available for $5 in C-2 or from any Whitney High Student Media staff member Wednesday or Thursday and $8 at the door.

by DANICA TRAN