Schools

Emmaus High School Holds First-ever Mr. Emmaus Pageant

Emmaus High School senior boys compete for the chance to be crowned "Mr. Emmaus" as part of Student Government Association fundraiser.

Special to Emmaus Patch By Chrissy Cilento, Emmaus High School Junior

When people think of beauty pageants, they think of things like Miss America or the TV show “Toddlers and Tiaras.” No one thinks of a group of senior high school guys competing to be crowned. No one, that is, but Parkland, Salisbury, Allen, and now Emmaus high schools.

This year, picked up a tradition which has been carried on by other local high schools for years, presenting its first-ever Mr. Emmaus Pageant. Eleven dashing senior gentlemen competed in four categories (casual wear, formal evening wear, swimwear, and talent) before the top five were chosen to be interviewed.

Find out what's happening in Emmauswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The event was organized by the EHS Student Government Association as a fundraiser, and turned out to be an immense success. Junior was the executive director of the project and oversaw the entire process, from finding the judges to herding the competitors onto the stage for their entrances. Erle says about the experience: “Through all the stress and hard work, I’m so glad I got to work with such a talented group of young men. I am so proud of all the work they did, and seeing that the show was a success made it worth every minute I spent putting it together.”

The competition couldn’t have been more stiff or more diverse. Each competitor had his own style and sense of humor, and the night was filled with roars of laughter from the audience. In the talent portion, all the guys turned up the heat with entertaining performances varying from stand-up comedy to break dancing to magic. 

Find out what's happening in Emmauswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the end though, only one man could be crowned. That man turned out to be Tyler Behnke. Tyler had the audience entertained from the moment he stepped out for the swimwear portion sporting floaties, scuba goggles, and an inflatable duckie around his waist. He performed a mash up of Justin Beiber’s “Baby” and Rebecca Black’s “Friday” for his talent portion, and when asked what the most pressing problem facing our youth today is in his interview, he casually replied “Mathematics.”

Luckily there were no harsh feelings between the contestants. All the guys, though from different cliques, meshed incredibly well and were surprisingly supportive of each other. Contestant Zach Petrovich commented about his relationship with the other guys: “I think it was interesting because we really got close to each other even though we were not from the same pathways. A lot of the people who participated I was not very close with before the experience, but afterwards I feel like they’re very close friends...” 

Overall, the show was a blast and people are already buzzing with excitement about who will compete next year. Win or lose, all the contestants loved getting to know each other and showing off what they’ve got to an audience who couldn’t get enough.

Chrissy Cilento, a junior at Emmaus High School, plans to study journalism in college. She will be a periodic contributor to Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Emmaus