What’s better than seeing eight senior boys strut their stuff? Add that with silly questions and talents and you’ve got yourself a Mr. Liberty pageant.
Mr. Liberty is an annual pageant hosted at LHS in the Little Theater. This year’s show was on April 14. The proceeds went to a fundraiser for the Liberty Local Scholarship Program.
Mr. Liberty’s continuation is due to the students’ interest in putting on the show and participating in it.
“I had been wanting to do it since my freshman year,” senior Orrin Donaldson said. “I had seen my brother when he did it, so I always had wanted to do it.”
The preparation for the show took about two weeks, longer than any of the previous Mr. Liberty shows.
“We had an extra four days to work on it,” senior Seth Langford said. “We had two practices to work on the choreography and had a dress rehearsal.”
There were many parts to the show itself. It started with a group dance set to a mash-up of popular songs, which the boys thought was difficult.
“During the dance we had to jump and do a toe-touch, that really hurt,” senior Paul Ambrose said.
The next component of the show was “formal wear.” The boys dressed up in suits and were escorted by one of the senior StuCo girls. The boys were all in traditional black suits or a nice dress shirt with black pants. The two boys that stood out the most were Ethan O’Hair wearing a white suit jacket and Langford wearing a yellow dress shirt to represent his favorite color.
Next, the boys had to perform their talent.
Senior Aaron Easley lip-synced “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood wearing jean shorts, a cowboy hat and a t-shirt.
Despite his personal concerns about embarrassing himself, he decided fun of the show outweighed the possibility of public shaming.
O’Hair stacked cups while he sang Anna Kendrick’s version of “The Cup Song.” He was dressed as an Olympic Cup Stacker.
Senior Jared Rohm performed a talent he had done since elementary school: fast hand clapping.
“I can clap my hands really fast,” Rohm said. “I thought it was a funny talent that’s not too serious.”
Senior Landon McKee juggled for his talent.
“I’ve been doing it for a couple years,” McKee said.
Donaldson performed “Soft Kitty” on the ukulele from the TV show “The Big Bang Theory” and sang along.
Ambrose named the capitals of countries all over the world. He had people from the audience shout out countries for him to name. His escort, Rachel Backs, checked them online as he said them.
“I can name the capitals,” Ambrose said. “I can’t pronounce them.”
Senior Satchel Manley rapped Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. He wore a Thing One t-shirt with the Green Eggs and Ham book at the front of the stage.
“The most difficult part was trying to rap Green Eggs and Ham to the Panda beat,” Manley said.
Langford lip-synced “Lips Are Movin” by Meghan Trainor. After the talent portion, the boys answered interview questions that they came up with themselves. The questions ranged from “what do you do to help the community” to “who is your celebrity crush.” Manley was the only candidate to be asked two questions, the second being, “if you could ask any girl to Prom who would it be?” He looked out into the audience and pondered for a bit, then pulled senior Teresa Parra on stage and someone off stage handed him a bouquet of roses and a poster that said “T: Will you accept this promposal?”
For the last three years, there has been a tradition of promposals during the show. It’s a neat and unexpected way of asking a date to prom.
“I have the most beautiful and caring girlfriend who deserves to be treated like that,” Manley said.
The next part of the show was the swimwear competition. The swimwear varied from Speedos to swim trunks. O’Hair wore swim trunks with an inner tube and floaties to add a special touch to his outfit.
An eating contest followed. The boys had 60 seconds to eat two cupcakes. Escorts held their hands behind their backs while they had to figure out how to eat it with just their mouths. The first place winner was Easley, the second place winner was Rohm and the third place winner was Langford.
In between the swimwear and the eating contest, the audience was asked to text in and vote for Mr. Congeniality.
Langford won Mr. Congeniality and received a yellow crown and one Prom ticket.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to get voted for and it made me feel really appreciated,” Langford said.
The judges who decided on Mr. Liberty were Astrid Ruiz, Emily Simpson, Amanda Derryberry and Zach Werner. They judged each candidate for their overall performance in each category.
Rohm was announced Mr. Liberty and received two Prom tickets along with a blue crown. Ambrose was the runner up.
“I wasn’t expecting it and it felt pretty cool because I got to keep the crown,” Rohm said. “I thought it was going to be me, Satchel or Ethan. I felt like we had the coolest talents and the best dance from the group dance.”
The audience enjoyed the show and the seniors encourage students to be apart of it in future years.
“I’m really glad I decided to do it and I think next year kids shouldn’t hesitate to sign up,” Donaldson said.