It’s Raining Men
Senior boys compete in the annual Mr. Liberty competition.
The lights flicker before fading to black, the only light being on the stage. Marching and counting can be heard through the stage right set door. The stomping of feet gets closer as the door opens, releasing the Mr. Liberty contestants. They line up down the middle and their began dancing in unison to one of Big Time Rush’s hits, “Boyfriend.” Ethusatically moving about the stage, the crowd cheering, and the boys taking turns with the spotlight. Mr. Liberty is a contest that is held every year, where senior boys can compete for the top title of Mr. Liberty decided by a team of judges. Mr. Congeniality is decided by the audience. This year there were eight seniors contestants: Liam Arciga, Brennan Kirby, Jack Lowery, Mustafa Mohammad- Amin, Zach Moorefield, Cameron Murphy, Joey O’Kelly and Preston Thompson.
“I think one of the best parts is that we were just hanging out backstage,” Murphy said. “We were all having a good time, it didn’t ever feel like ‘oh, we’re competing against each other,’ It was more like we were just going out there and having fun, putting on a little show to commemorate us being seniors.”
The eight contestants participated in six different events: the introduction of the candidates, formal wear competition, candidate interviews, a talent showcase, a beachwear competition and an eating contest. All of the contests were presented in a way so each boy could show off his greatest skills while having fun.
Every talent varied from eating a jar of pickles to rubix cube solving.
“I picked pickle eating because I saw a Twitter video and I have no real talents besides that,” Thompson said. “Eating the pickles was probably my favorite part. Making everyone awkward and hearing everyone laugh was pretty funny.”
The reactions from the audience varied from throwing up like a cat hacking up a hairball, to cringing back in their seats and going red. People let out chuckles of disgust, shuddering as a new pickle was put into Thompsons mouth. Shouts and squeals lit up the room as if everyone just watched their favorite team lose.
Arciga also had an interesting talent, were he rollerbladed with lightsabers to the Pokémon theme song.
“I chose the lightsabers and roller skates because they were just two things I had laying around,” he said. “They were pretty novelty items so I figured, why not shoot for the novelty? Just to kick it off, I had the Pokémon theme song going on in the background. You can’t go wrong with that.”
Each boy brought something to the table that many members of the audience loved. For Kirby, it was his magic tricks that had both successes and snags. Mohammad- Amin’s speed eating of a chocolate covered donut made the crowd’s eyes widen as they watched him devour it. Lowery’s flash-like speed at solving rubix cubes of different shapes and complexities had the audience on the edge of their seats. O’Kelly sang his heart out with a Vine compilation and his guitar, causing chuckles and occasional repetition of favorite lines. Murphy graced the stage with his cowboy boots and swagger, making the audience light up and laugh out loud.
The show was hosted by seniors Sara Benson and Isabelle Borchardt.
“We didn’t have a rehearsal really, so it was very much like improv,” Borchardt said. “It was pretty fun, I had a script. It was just entertaining. I wish we could have watched it though, because I thought it was pretty funny.” At the end of the show, the Mr. Liberty title went to Lowry and Mr. Congeniality went to O’Kelly.
“I feel ecstatic. It was fantastic,” Lowery said. “It was fun being with a group of senior guys, who I don’t really talk to too much. We all came closer together, so it was a lot of fun.”
