A contestant sings “With or Without You” by U2 (Photo/Derek Caneja)
A contestant sings "With or Without You" by U2. (Photo/Derek Caneja)
The annual Mr. WHS contest, a competition for the male members of the senior class to find out who will take on the title and responsibilities of representing Walpole High School, took place during spirit week on October 3 in the auditorium. The competition is similar to a beauty pageant, where seniors show off their unique talents and answer personal questions to prove they are worthy of the title. The winner, Tim Conley, received a fifty dollar gift certificate to Rico’s and other school privileges, such as cutting the lunch line, free admission to events, and a preferred parking space. The contest was separated into multiple categories and the candidates were scored from 1 to 10 on their answers and performances by the judges: Conor Cashman, Ms. Emily Loflin, Richard McCarthy, Mary-Kate Bindas, Tim Connolly and William Hahn.
The main categories of the contest were the entrances, interview questions, and talents. For the entrance, contestants selected a song and an outfit of choice to showcase their personalities and school spirit. Taka Kondo had on a rebel color body suit to show his school spirit, while Cam Benoit wore a snowboarding outfit to show his personality to the judges.
After the entrance the candidates were asked a series of questions and judged on their answers. Pat Maloney was asked what animal he would be if he had the choice. Maloney said, “A duck, because it is the only bird who can swim and fly.” The next part of the competition was the talent portion, where the majority of the contestants chose to sing or dance, but a few went for more unique talents. Giorgio Sarkis displayed his black belt skills in a karate routine to “You Make My Dreams Come True,” by Hall and Oates.
CJ Tempesta started off with a stand up joke routine that broke off into a dance to Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas, complete with back-up dancers.”It was a lot of fun to be apart of the show” Cj Tempesta said, “I appreciate that the [back-up dancers] spent their spare time to learn the dance with me.” Tim Conley, dressed in a leather jacket and sunglasses, seranaded Ms. Loflin to the song “With or Without You” by U2, which received the best reaction from the audience.
By the end of the night the moment had come to announce the winner. The final input to the judges’ decisions was based on the crowd’s favorite—a quick cheer from the audience when their favorite candidate’s name was called. The votes came in to a close call with the second runner up CJ Tempesta with 235 points, the first runner up Pat Maloney with 244 points, and the new Mr. WHS Tim Conley with a total of 258 points.
