The annual Mr. NVHS competition took place last night at Neuqua Valley. The male beauty pageant included ten senior boys competing in events such as the hot seat Q&A, talent show, vacation wear competition, and a Neuqua spirit wear fashion show. The prize at stake was two prom tickets and an Amazon gift card. Kaitlyn Backe and Apurva Chaturvedi did an amazing job hosting the event by presenting each contestant as well as running the hot seat portion.

Some acts that stood out were Matt Arends re-creation of a dance from the film “Napoleon Dynamite” and Kevin Wu’s fruit ninja act, during which he smashed bananas in half using just his hand. Duncan Fox performed an exciting cover of “Treasure” by Bruno Mars; Fox is quite the performer and the crowd reaction made him seem like a promising contender. Additionally, Kevin Daneliak produced a niche act including a peanut butter and jelly tutorial and a cover of the song “Tequila” by The Champs. Eshwar Pitchiah put on an astonishing magic act, in which he predicted the contents of a deck of cards; many are still in awe of how this man was able to pull off such a trick! All the contestants showed many promising attributes that would make them most fit to be the next Mr. NVHS, however only one could win.

The contest winner was based on crowd reaction, as well as input from a panel of judges comprised of Neuqua teachers. In the end, Michael O’Conner was crowned the new Mr. NVHS due to his killer performance of “I Love You Baby” by Frank Sinatra and impressive Q&A responses. All of the contenders did an amazing job and their participation is what keeps this colorful tradition alive.