By Elizabeth Mueller

On Saturday April 21, 2012 Dominican High School students and parents experienced something they have never experienced before; Dominican’s first annual Man Pageant. Two male students from each grade level participated in the pageant at DHS and the proceeds of the event go to the charity of the winner’s choice.

Participants in the pageant include Freshmen Jerry Vartanian and Kevin Brauer, sophomores Ryan Cahala, Jack Jelacic, Jerome Linn and Jason Brown, juniors Adam O’Neill and Jacob Scobey-Polacheck, and seniors Sam Starke and Yucheng (Joe) Peng.  “It was so much fun participating in the DHS Gentlemen’s Pageant. The competition was really tough. I feel honored to have been named the runner up.” said sophomore contestant Jerome Linn.

The man pageant was created and produced by DHS’s student council members and hosted by seniors Maddie Franke and Ann Spella. In order to keep the competition fair, the student council selected judges of all different varieties. The judges included English teacher Mr. Russell and DHS alum Zachary Breyfogle. Adding a female perspective was Sister Peggy and the surprise judge was the beloved former DHS staff member, Allison Belongea.  “The boys participating in the pageant did a fantastic job. The competition was very tough.” said judge, Mr. Russell. Russell continued saying “What was amazing was that there were no obvious winners in the competition. The audience was completely taken by surprise by the winners.”

Coming in third place was junior Jarred Bedgood. Second place went to sophomore Jerome Linn, and the winner of DHS’s first annual Man Pageant was senior Sam Starke. “Winning the pageant was just incredible. Absolutely amazing.” said Starke. When asked how he feels now, almost a week after the competition, Starke said “I feel great. When I came to school at the beginning of the week, I kept being congratulated by classmates and teachers.”

Student Council announced that proceeds raised at the Man Pageant were totaled to over $1000.When asked where Starke will be donating the proceeds, Starke said “I will be donating the proceeds of the pageant to a Leukemia foundation. It is a disease that is close to me and I think every person’s life has been touched in some way by cancer.”