On January 18, 2017, Lenape High School had its annual Mr. Lenape competition, a pageant-like competition where senior boys collect money, perform skits, and participate in a question and answer round to be crowned Mr. Lenape. This year’s contestants were Alex Loscalzo (Mr. January), Kevin Isky (Mr. February), Michael Rehmann (Mr. March), Adi Nashikkar (Mr. April), Chase Campbell (Mr. May), Kerry Sojka (Mr. June), Tommy Gardiner (Mr. July), Anthony Celia (Mr. August), Eric Fei (Mr. September), Ryan Cassidy (Mr. October), Christian Ramoundos (Mr. November), and Tim Montgomery (Mr. December).

Each of the contestants and their escorts did a phenomenal job! The night was a success not only because of the hardwork and dedication of the participants but also because of the volunteer efforts of the class office representatives of all the grades. Many of them counted votes, sold tickets, and handed out programs. The emcees of the evening, Mr. Walsh and seniors Maddie Jacob and Shannon Lambert were also fantastic!  The night ended in a tie between Anthony Celia and Michael Rehmann, longtime best friends!

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike and ask him a few questions about the entire event.

How does it feel to be Mr. Lenape 2017?

Winning Mr. Lenape was honestly one of my most exhilarating high school experiences. The roar of the audience after my performance and when I was announced the winner made me feel so loved by the Lenape family, which is a feeling that I’ll keep with me from now until after graduation.

What kind of preparation went into your performance?

First, I had to come up with a skit and I instantly knew I was going to do Sia as my skit because I wanted to do something unique, weird, and never been done before. Then, I had to find somebody from each grade to join my skit which was a struggle because I’m not friends with that many freshmen and sophomores. For the freshman and sophomores, I asked two strangers, Taylor Brunner and Sude Yalcin to join my skit- people that I had never talked to before. Through lots of practices (7 to be exact!) and even practicing in a dance studio at the Club Metro gym, I became close with Taylor and Sude and even closer with my good friends Bella McErlean, Cameron Toner, and Talia Hartman who were also in my skit. We were prepared and ready to kill the stage the night of Mr. Lenape!

What was your favorite part of it all?

My favorite part was tying with Mr. August, Anthony Celia. Anthony has been one of my closest friends since the 3rd grade and we kept saying to each other before the competition, “if I don’t win, I hope you win.” So when we heard we tied each other, we were nothing short of ecstatic because we were not only happy for ourselves but happy for each other.

Any advice for next years’ contestants?

Do something outrageous! Don’t be nervous that the crowd will think it’s “weird” because “weird” is what is going to win you Mr  Lenape. And above all, have fun with it!

If you couldn’t make it this year, make sure you come on out for Mr. Lenape 2018!