Mr. Watkins Mill occurred Friday, May 19th, where the nine seniors showcased their talent and creativity. The night ended with Senior Kush Kharod being crowned the overall winner of the 29th annual competition.  

The contestants included, seniors Leonardo Molina, Oswaldo Baires, Leonardo Astorima, Brandon Rodriguez, Ian Nathan, Lenox Kamara, Steven Mendez, and CJ Uzoukwu. The contestants  worked hard for two months in preparation for the event.

The show kicked off with an introduction of the five judges. The Contestants were then announced one by one with their escorts from SADD. The audience was then surprised with a group dance, which included the contestants and escorts.

“I don’t think [the event] could have gone any better it was so much fun and no doubt entertaining,” Mr. Watkins Mill escort Kendrah Nolasco said. SADD co-sponsors Matthew Johnson and Ana Mitten as well as SADD members spent a lot of time planning and decorating for Friday.

SADD members Fiona Franke, Virginia Schlosser, and Julia Crews helped out with a photo booth and ticket sales on the night of the show. SADD member Sarah Elbeshbishi and senior Paige Glenzer were the emcees of the night.

The boys showed their creative side in the talent portion, which consisted of karate, singing, dancing, painting, and much more. “[Performing showed] people a side [of us] no one has seen before and showing school spirit,” Astorima said.

The show proceeded into the swim wear portion, where the guys got to show off their “beach body”. The swimwear included one pieces, bikinis, and speedos that the contestants modeled across the stage.

The show concluded with a casual wear and Q&A, which allowed the boys one last chance to show off their personality before the final scores. While the scores were being tallied up a slideshow consisting of baby pictures played.

Once the scores were in the contestants were narrowed down to the top three. The top three were, Kamara,  Astorima, and Kharod. While Astorima took third place, it left Karmara and Kharod gunning for first. It ended with Kharod taking first place and being crowned Mr. Watkins Mill for the 2017 year.

This year a Mr. Congeniality was added to make the show more audience interactive. Audience members were able to tweet their favorite contestants name to #MWM2017 and the boy who had the most tweets was named Mr. Congeniality. This new title was given to Mendez.

Kharod will be donating the proceeds made from the night’s event to cancer research. “I feel that cancer research is so important. So many people are dying because of it and I find it crazy how we still don’t know how we have to cure that disease,” Kharod said.