By Lorin Enns
Contestants of the annual ‘Mr. Coronado’ pageant took to the theater stage on Wednesday, April 5 at 5 p.m. to raise money for the charity of their choice. The senior boys showed off their talents, looks, and soft sides to win the competition. Each contestant chose a charity to donate their winnings to, including Shade Tree, Safe Nest, Cancer Research Institute, and Ehlers-Danlos Society.
Judges, including Ms. Swenson and guest judge Kayla Walker from 98.5 KLUC, chose senior Tommy Orluske as this year’s Mr. Coronado, and over $1500 was donated to the Ehlers-Danlos society, a charity group dedicated to genetic diseases.
“It feels really good, just cloud nine. I felt like I would win because I raised a good amount of money compared to other people, but I thought that once the talent and everything else came into play it would be a tight race,” Orluske said.
Orluske went the extra mile and raised over $500 on his own to donate toward his foundation. His sister suffers with a genetic disease, making his efforts to collect donations even more personal.
“I was very passionate about going out and raising money. I wanted to win more so the money would go to the charity,” Orluske said.
Contenders performed various dances and talents, including yoga poses by Andrew McKinney, a cheerleading performance by Shaun Brown, Louis Shulman, and Seth Murousky, nacho making with Dylan Ziegler, and several other performances by participants throughout the pageant.
“I really wanted to be a part of Mr. Coronado because of the charity part of it. My charity is the Amputee Coalition, and my dad actually is an amputee himself, so it definitely made sense for me to try and win it for this charity,” Ziegler said.
The winner was determined through a series of tasks, including the introduction of each contestant’s escort, a pick-up line contest, dance numbers, the talent portion, and a Q&A segment.
