The Mr. Mills E. Godwin (Mr. MG) pageant is a time-honored Godwin tradition, inviting Godwin students, families and friends together to support the Make-A-Wish foundation.

This year’s theme was “Back to the Future,” with Godwin Physical Education Teacher Mark Brandenburger as Doctor Emmett Brown.

On Saturday, Jan. 19th, Godwin held its 15th annual pageant, crowing senior Davis West as the 2019 Mr. MG.

This was West’s third year competing in the pageant.

Other contestants included seniors Michael Buncher, Cameron Butler, Ben Grott, Michael Haddad, Andrew Hess, Matthew Howe, Liam McColley, Lachlan McLennan, Tai’Vares Saunders and Andrew Seccia, Juniors Connor Butterworth, Joaquin Dela Cruz, Shivesh Joshi, and Zachary Weiss, and Freshman Namit Nallapaneni.

The competition consisted of a character round in which contestants embodied their chosen character, a talent round, and a question round.

After each round, contestants were eliminated until a final seven were selected, and from that group, a winner.

Judges included Thomas Threatt, an annual judge, Henrico County Public Schools director of Communications and Public Relations Andy Jenks, and Make-A-Wish foundation representative Abby Quinn.

The night opened with all of the contestants performing a choreographed dance to popular songs such as “Teach Me How to Dougie” by Cali Swag District, “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex, and “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. Following the Dance, Formal introductions of the contestants with their escorts were made.

Character Round

For this round, contestants were judged based on their creativity and execution of their chosen character skit or video.

The round opened with Butler performing as SpongeBob Squarepants in “I’m a Goofy Goober,” followed by an electric guitar solo.

Next, Grott acted as Katniss Everdeen from “The Hunger Games,” alongside senior Sadie Williams as Peeta Mellark.

Haddad then appeared as a training Rocky Balboa, followed by a brief boxing match against senior Lauren “Ivy League” Murphy, which he lost.

Hess followed up with a tour of Godwin, offering tips and tricks to surviving school, such as always keeping window cleaner on you.

Then, Howe appeared as Spiderman Actor Tom Holland, doing an interview with Hess as Conan O’Brien, showcasing how his “spidey senses” manifested in his everyday life.

Next, McColley, with his “mediocre Epic Tennis RPI of 80,” read “Wocket in my Pocket” set to the tune of “Walk it Like I Talk It” by Migos.

Haddad followed as Rocky Balboa, followed by a brief boxing match against senior Lauren “Ivy League” Murphy which he lost.

Hess then followed up with a tour of Godwin, offering tips and tricks to surviving school, such as always keeping window cleaner on you.

McClellan then followed as a former professional race walker who was trying to make his way back up to the top, aided by his coach, who was played by senior Liam Deegan.

Next, Saunders took a twist on the T.V. show “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”,” acting as the shows main character, Will Smith.

For Seccia’s skit, he referenced meme culture and performed a surgery on a grape.

Weiss, residential “cooties expert” then showcased an infomercial for the medication “Coot U Not,” offering up side effects such as Early Onset Arthritis, constipation, and death.

Then, West showed his “My Strange Addiction” episode, “I’m Addicted to Magic,” showing how his addiction led to him eating playing cards, decapitating fingers while trying to attempt card throwing, and making 17 of his friends disappear.

Butterworth showed the audience the proper etiquette for Pokémon catching.

Buncher followed with a stand up act, offering commentary on how electricity would not be considered special to those during the Italian Renaissance.

Dela Cruz followed in as Sharpay Evans, accompanied by senior Sarah Welch as Ryan Evans, performing “Bop to the Top” from High School Musical, complete with a ladder for the finale.

Next, Joshi, accompanied by juniors Elena Fitchett, Ellie Miller, and Emily Zhang, performed the Mean Girls Dance to Jingle Bell Rock, but not before showcasing his outfit via tear-away pants.

Finally, Nallapaneni did a skit showcasing the life of a center freshman, including being bullied for their lunch money, being berated for having a Casio as opposed to a TI-84 Plus CE, and keeping a calculator with him for a history test, since it “just brought [him] comfort.”

Following the character round, contestants were judged and were either eliminated or pushed on to the next round. However, a 3-way tie was called and 10 candidates moved on to the talent round as opposed to the typical 8.

After much deliberation from the judges, Dela Cruz, Butler, McClellan, Saunders, West, McColley, Buncher, Joshi, Grott, and Nallapaneni all moved on to the next round.

Talent Round

Butler started this round off with an original drum solo, finishing off his act by throwing his drumsticks into the crowd.

Following, Grott set to make minute rice in only 55 seconds, adding in seasonings such as salt and pepper for spiciness, orange juice for zest, toothpaste for freshness, and a banana, as Grott “hasn’t cramped in years.”

Buncher then performed a self-choreographed dance, accompanied by sophomore Grace Killius, to the song “Stay” by Alessia Cara.

Dela Cruz then slowed things down with a rendition of “Stars” from the musical “Les Miserables”.

After, Joshi performed a Chris Angel inspired act, complete with talents such as opening a trash can without his hands, moving a hula-hoop over bubbles, and making himself “disappear”.

Buncher then performed a self-choreographed dance, accompanied by sophomore Grace Killius, to the song “Stay” by Alessia Cara.

Dela Cruz then slowed things down with a rendition of “Stars” from the musical “Les Miserables”.

Joshi performed a Chris Angel inspired act, complete with talents such as opening a trash can without his hands, moving a hula-hoop over bubbles, and making himself “disappear”.

McColley then graced the audience with a few slam poems, giving dramatic readings of songs such as “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, “Low” by Flo Rida, “Hey Ya” by Outkast (making sure to “shake it like a polaroid picture”), finishing the act off with a reading of “Rap God” by Eminem before moonwalking away.

McLennan followed with a synchronized swimming act, complete with popular dance moves such as the shoot that he then finished by spitting water at the crowd before “swimming” off stage.

Nallapaneni then performed a rendition of “Careless Whisper” by George Michael as he showered the audience in red roses.

Saunders, accompanied by his twin sister, Tai’Asia Saunders, performed a glow-in-the-dark dance, done by attaching glow sticks to their bodies.

Finally, West, known in the Godwin Community performed a series of magic tricks, including ripping up a newspaper and magically putting it back together, making a glass bottle disappear, and of course, a few classic coin tricks as Mambo Italiano by Dean Martin played in the background.

For this round, the judges chose to put through 7 contestants instead of the typical 5, and after much deliberation, decided to move Buncher, Butler, Dela Cruz, Joshi, McColley, Saunders, and West through to the question round.

Question Round

For this round, questions ranged from “which teacher do you most relate to,” to “describe yourself in three words,” with all the questions aiming to test the intellectual charm of “our boys.”

Buncher, whose question was “which teacher at Godwin do you relate most to”, answered Mrs. Bryant.
Butler was asked what three words he would use to describe himself, citing “Mr., M, and Agile.”

Dela Cruz’s question was in relation to his greatest fear, to which he said “not making an impact on people.”

Joshi was asked why winning the title of Mr. MG was important to him, joking that he wanted to let everyone know that he was better than them.

McColley said that the teacher he was most like was Ms. Richardson, since they both had a tough outer shell, but were just lovable government teachers on the inside.

Saunders’ question was which teacher he related to most, explaining that he most related to Mrs. Burns, since she pushed everyone to go for their dreams.

West finished by saying that his biggest fear was leaving was leaving Godwin in June.

“There was always the promise of next year, but I really don’t want to leave this place and all of these awesome guys,” said West.

Final Round

While judges deliberated, the audience was shown a video of the behind the scenes of Mr. MG. Since the theme was Back to the Future, students used a time machine to go and take a look at MG pageants of the past.

For the final decisions, contestants lined up to be announced. Dela Cruz was fourth runner up, McColley was second runner up, Joshi was third runner up, and Saunders was first runner up, with the judges crowning West as 2018-19 Mr. MG.

Over $5,000 was raised for the Make-A-Wish foundation, the most that’s even been raised through the Mr. MG pageant.

“The best part about it is working really hard on something and then winning, but it isn’t about just the title, it’s more about coming out and being able to participate in a good event that’s supporting a good cause,” said West.