Mr. PCH Pageant Packed with Action

Left+to+right%3A+Preston+Chen+plays+the+recorder+with+is+nose+while+Tiffany+Huang+holds+up+notes.+%0A

Zoe Nolting

Left to right: Preston Chen plays the recorder with is nose while Tiffany Huang holds up notes.

Alex Edelman, Staff Writer

The PCH pageant featured a myriad of different acts and dances for the entirety of AC Lab Wednesday. A fitting way to spend a free period; watching all the senior men get together for quick-cooked talent acts, and fast-paced choreography.

The first half of the pageant was made up by the introduction of all the pageant contestants and their charities, respectively. This smoothly transitioned into a dance number performed by all the contestants with the help of junior varsity dancers Ellie Mueller and Anna Oleksa. The number had about every currently popular dance move one could think of, and went better than I would expect for a rapid fire dance performed by a group of senior men that, for the most part, have never done a day of dance in their life.

Zoe Nolting
Left to Right: Mello Ball, Jayden Littlejohn and Caleb Tillis celebrate after Mr. PCH dance.

“We hung out one day, and made it up in about maybe 30 minutes” sophomore dance team member Ellie Mueller said, referring to Anna Oleksa and herself.

Despite the ease with which Mueller and Oleksa concocted the dance, Ellie admits the boys didn’t have an equally easy time learning it.

“It took about four or five [practices] and they needed a lot of help”.

The number had about every currently popular dance move one could think of, and went better than I would expect for a rapid fire dance performed by a group of senior men that, for the most part, have never done a day of dance in their life.

The latter half of the pageant consisted of the contestants displaying their chosen talents in front of a panel of faculty judges. A panel of faculty judges deliberated on which talent was better than others, though even the half-baked showings were still plenty entertaining. A number of the contestants even teamed up, such as Mr. DECA (Justin Hathcock) and Mr. Soccer (Camden Dunne) who attempted to head a soccer ball to each other as many times as possible.

“We were originally going to do something else, but then we decided that it was too complicated, and decided to do something we knew we could both do,” Hathcock said.

Performing in front of crowds isn’t foreign for either of these contestants, who are both varsity soccer players and members of the 2017 state championship run.

“It was a little nerve-racking at first, but as we got on with it it was pretty fun and doing it with friends was a good time,” Dunne said.

Some of the acts appealed to a more comedic side; less concerned with the precision of the talent. Josiah Runge displayed his ability to throw cards – a full deck that is – at an apple, while contestants Preston Chen and Eric White played the Parkway Central fight song on recorders using their nostrils instead of their mouths. Mr. Spanish (Blake Seigel) wasn’t even sure of his chosen talent until a few moments before his turn, and simply did a sequence of toe-touches and cartwheels throughout the gym for his talent. It did not disappoint.

“I was waiting in line to go and show my talent off that I didn’t know at the time, so I went up to the dance team, who I’ve become really close with, and asked them what I should do,” Seigel said. “I was really inspired by their suggestion, and I just wanted to go out their and impress the judges.”

Evidently, Blake made quite the impression among the judges and ended up moving on to the next round. Not bad for a last minute plan.

The coming days will reveal the final contestants competing for the Mr. PCH crown, and if the past days have been any indicator of the events to come: we will all be in for a good show.