Behind the Scenes

The 19th annual Mr. MG pageant made its debut on January 26, 2024, at 6:00 pm. Over the years, Mr. MG has drawn a lot of attention, from both students and teachers because of its pageant performed by male students at Godwin High School. This year’s Mr. MG winner was Carter Anderson, a sophomore at Godwin. The show was primarily performed by upperclassmen, all males, showing their hidden talents. It is run by the student body here at Godwin but is overseen by Rebecca Martino and Herr Ungerleider. Martino said, “The SCA created the Mr. MG event 20 years ago, and so as SCA co-sponsors, Mr. Ungerleider and I put on the show.”

This year, the Mr. MG pageant raised over 4000 dollars as donation money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “Mr. MG is a lot of fun, a great way to meet new people, and most importantly, it’s an opportunity to give back to your community by raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation,” said Martino.

Being in plays and performances is lots of fun, but can inflict nerves to perform in front of a vast crowd. Martino said, “My main focus is for things to go smoothly and for the contestants to perform with confidence. They have worked so hard and are brave to put themselves out there!”

Performances consist of rehearsals many months before the actual performance takes place. The rehearsals for Mr. MG happened after school most days to prepare for the Mr. MG pageant. Martino said “Rehearsals for the dance started in November, but first, it’s choreographed. Then the contestants pitch their ideas for the character and talent portions to us. The emcees write the script starting in December, and then we start rehearsing in the auditorium after Winter Break. We’re basically “building the plane while we’re flying it.”

For both the teachers and students, the workload remains at a constant high per every rehearsal that takes place. Everyday rehearsal is filled with the highs and lows that performances come with. Martino said, “It depends on the rehearsal [what they need to work on most], but sometimes we need to work on timing and sometimes it’s more technical and we need to focus on something like equipment. It varies.”
Through most performances, new friends are assembled and relationships are expanded. Martino said, “Mr. MG is a ton of work but SO much fun. I’m excited to see all of the hard work pay off.”