By Jessica Blakeley

Big Man on Campus was a satirical male pageant filled with rolling on the floor laughs and smiles throughout the audience. The pageant was produced by senior Tanner Smithson as his very last high school production.

“I wanted this to go off really well,” Smithson said. “I wanted to make a production where the audience and myself got to enjoy it right there.”

The contest consisted of three sections, athletic wear, a talent and each contestant’s idea of formal wear. The production started out with a choreographed introduction where the contestants danced to female pop hits.

The contestants who participated in the pageant were Matt Betts for Sapphires, Robby Burks for Tennis, Jordan Dorsey for Prestige, Weldon Hembree for SKILLS USA, Mark Hosek for JROTC, Rayburn Lee for Colorguard, Noel Macalisang for Yearbook, Sam McCord for NHS, Clay Mobley for Student Council, and Grant Peterson for Accapella.

“Once we got the dance down we just had fun with it. Whatever the crowd gave us, we went with it,” Mobley said. “Before we were all nervous but we knew it would be fun.”

The start of the athletic wear section had the crowd screaming, as the contestants walked out in their versions of athletic wear.

“My Hello Kitty athletic wear was from the powder puff [football game] my sophomore year, surprisingly the outfit still fit!” Dorsey said.

The contestants then surprised the audience with humor in their talent performances such as Jell-O swimming, lip syncing and cross dressing.

Senior Jordan Dorsey taught himself how to play the piano. At the last minute, he decided to wear senior Christie Ried’s dress and flip flops. He also wore a wig. He called his character his twin sister, Jessica Dorsey.

“The song I sung was A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. I really liked that song so that’s where I found the idea for being my ‘twin sister’ Jessica Dorsey,” Dorsey said.

The last section was in formal wear, where the contestants showed off their final attire for the night, some with a twist of humor.

“I went as Mulan for my formal wear because she saved all of China, all by herself and did not need love to do that,” Lee said.

At the end of the pageant, representing Student Council, Clay Mobley was crowned The Big Man on Campus. He also won Mr. Heart Throb because he collected the most money through audience donations.

“I felt surprised and honored to be crowned the first ever Big Man on Campus,” Mobley said. “It was fun and very funny.”

Grant Peterson came in second place and Jordan Dorsey placed third.

Rayburn Lee took home the ‘Most Dapper’ win and Jordan Dorsey won the ‘Most Athletic’ category.

Smithson organized Big Man on Campus was to raise money for Promise House. The pageant garnered over $200 in donations.

“Promise House is for at-risk teens in the Dallas and North Dallas area,” Smithson said. “The reason we wanted to pick them was because they were bringing arts to at risk teens in the community.”

At end of the performance, theatre director Mrs. Andrea Farnham presented his very own crown to Smithson to acknowledge all the work he put into the performance.

“Before it started I was worried about the contestants and the fact there weren’t many rehearsals,” Smithson said. “The idea came from Student Council, and after doing research from different colleges we just ran with it, and I am happy with the end result.”

Jessica Blakeley is a student at WEHS