The crowd waits anxiously as the next contestant is announced for their talent portion. A student steps onto the stage in a hilarious costume and leaves the crowd wondering what they will entertain them with. As the tech crew turns on the music and dims the lights, the student goes all out; leaving a mark on the crowd with laughs, claps, cheers, and tears.
While many people associate pageants with girls wearing sparkly dresses and tiaras that wasn’t the case for Mr Wildkat. Mr Wildkat was a pageant held on April 6th to raise money for Operation Graduation, however, with one change: boys as the contestants. Girl students also had the chance to participate and were given the pleasure of escorting their partners.
“I chose to escort my partner, Austin Gaskins (Mr.Wildkat) because we have been really good friends since elementary school and his family are family friends of mine so I thought it would be special for us to do it together,” senior Savannah Moore said. “It was definitely really nostalgic because I remember growing up with him and now we’re about to go to our own separate colleges after we graduate, so I’m glad we got to do one last thing.”
While the gals had the chance to escort their contestants, the boys had a chance to take advantage of being the focus of the show.
“I did Mr. Wildkat to take full advantage of my senior year and do as much as I can while I’m still here,” senior Turner Ward said. “Mr. Wildkat is a great chance to hang out with fellow seniors, dance, and have fun! I was announced first in the top five, and I was very shocked, though I didn’t win. I’m glad we put on a good show for the audience and judges.”
Since Mr Wildkat is a pageant-based fundraiser, there were many categories to entertain the crowd. One of which includes the talent portion.
“My talent was a direct parody of a scene from the mean girls Broadway show Sexy,” senior Stone Chapman said.
With Chapman’s talent including ‘mean’ girls, a few escorts got the chance to help make his talent shine.
“Stone, Balie, Addison, Savannah, and I performed a recreation of ‘Sexy’ from the Mean Girls Musical,” senior Kinley Gibbs said. “We chose this because it had a lot of theatrics that would fit our big personalities. We practiced for hours on end, but we had so much fun doing it and the end result was something I was proud of.”
Along with a talent portion, a swimsuit category led to hilarious memories made.
“The funniest part of the show was when I motorboated Baylon during the swimsuit competition,” senior Gemma Roach said.
With memorable moments happening on stage, iconic references also occurred during the swimsuit portion.
“For my swimsuit, I chose to be Ken from Barbie because it’s funny and the judges would understand the reference,” senior Austin Gaskins said. “I wore a large fur coat and model walked before doing a funny dance at the end.”
The show came to an end as the judges announced Gaskins the 2024 Mr. Wildkat.
“When my name was announced I was kinda shocked but overall really excited and proud that I had won,” Gaskins said. “The vibe when they announced the winner with ‘Congratulations’ by Post Malone playing and the purple lights flashing was great, and I’ll remember that moment for the rest of my life.
Although Mr. Wildkat can seem intimidating, everyone should do it if they’re interested in having a blast as senior year ends.
“People chose not to do Mr. Wildkat because they think it is only for the ‘popular’ people on sports teams,” Chapman said. “Everyone should ignore that and try to sign up for Mr. Wildkat because you can learn new things about your peers and set up a new tradition of every clique coming together. I know for a fact that even though I may not be the most influential person I still left a mark on Mr Wildkat.”
