After a night filled with plenty of laughs, original talent and good-natured fun, senior Darrel Mensah received the coveted ‘Mr. West Potomac’ title and a check for $100 on Friday in this year’s annual competition. The Mr. West Potomac competition was hosted by the SGA (Student Government Association) and was held in the Kogelman theatre. All proceeds went to charity.

Contestants included juniors Peter Skudlarek and Marquis Davin and seniors Okrah Opoku, Jake Hardison, Aaron Doku and Darrel Mensah. Judges this year included history teachers Stefan Przywara and Jeff Feinstein, Spanish teacher Sonia Castano and physics teacher Dana Hubbard.

The competition began with an introduction of the contestants, followed by an outfit portion where contestants were able to express themselves through their style. A wide range of performances also took place, starting with a lip sync battle, followed by a talent portion where contestants both amused and moved the audience with dancing and singing, art, speech giving–and even hoverboard tricks.

However, the performance that garnered the loudest audience reaction occurred when senior Okrah Opoku finished reading an original poem about his love of football by using it as a chance to stage a promposal.

A blind Q&A session put contestants on the spot when judges asked the Mr. West Potomac hopefuls questions they only had seconds to conjure up an answer for. Varying from “What would you bring with you if you were stuck on a deserted island?,” to “What is the happiest moment of your life so far?,” the Q&A session provided amusement, insight and plenty of self-reflection.

MC’d by junior Gideon Adomako Jones and senior Samuel Hammond, the audience never experienced a dull moment even when the contestants were busy offstage preparing for the next part of the show. Students participated in games and won prizes in between performances, and the contestants teamed up against the teachers in a Mr. West Potomac edition of family feud, all with the help of SGA members.
 

 Thanks to the enthusiasm of the contestants, the help of SGA and teachers and the audience turnout which filled the Kogelman theatre Friday night, the Mr. West Potomac 2016 competition was a success.