The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School auditorium held the Mr. Douglas Pageant on Thursday, Jan. 25, hosted by teacher Chelsea Briggs and the LED Dance club. All of the money raised from the event went to the LED dance clubs props and costumes. The event is LED dance’s primary fundraising opportunity.
For the last seven years, one male student from each grade is interviewed, displays his talents, and tries to win over the audience to represent MSD as Mr. Douglas.
Participants representing each grade included freshman Adam Shelowitz, sophomore RJ Meis, junior Levi Goffstein and senior Joey Chiera. The four contenders are introduced to the audience with their escorts. Then, members participate in a swimsuit contest; contenders all do a comedy skit involving a beach or swimming. After the swimsuit competition, intermission started and the step team did a performance.
After the step team performed, the interview portion began where questions were asked to each Mr. Douglas candidate, catered to each of their likes and personalities. Then, a lip sync battle began where senior Giovanni Maldonado performed as Bad Bunny.
“I love Miss Briggs and want to come help show support for the LED dance club,” Maldonado said.
Continuing through the performance; next was a talent section which featured acts ranging from Shelowitz showing his Eagle pride dressed like an eagle to Meis performing “I’m just Ken.” The LED dance did a performance, showcasing the lights and different dance talents.
“The LED dance was pretty cool, it was fun to watch,” senior Jeremy Fishkin said.
Throughout the show, QR codes were available for the audience to vote on the winner of the lip sync battle and the overall winner of Mr. Douglas. There were also additional awards including best interview, Mr. Congeniality, most creative, most talented and most photogenic.
Each contestant received at least one award including; Chiera winning most creative and best interview, Shelowitz winning Mr. Congeniality, Meis winning most creative, Goffstein winning most photogenic.
The event concluded with the audience participating in a vote on who they wanted to win to represent 2024 Mr. Douglas. The contestants and their escorts were brought to the stage to announce the winner. The fourth runner up was Shelowitz, the third runner up was Goffstein and second place went to Meis, making Chiera the winner of the Mr. Douglas pageant.
“I love getting the people going, I love being a comedian, being a showman,” Chiera said.
The pageant was an opportunity for the boys of MSD to showcase their talents, represent their grade, make the audience laugh and help raise money for LED dance. Students in the audience cheered for the participants and the event was an entertaining experience for everyone.
