Senior Walter Analetto being crowned Mr. MHS. Photo by Leila Greige.
The Maldonian Yearbook held a fundraiser event called Mr. MHS, where seven Malden High school male seniors competed to win the title of Mr. MHS. The event was held in the Jenkins Auditorium at 7:00 pm on April 25th.
Maldonian advisor James Valente was the host for the fundraiser and the one who originally brought back the idea of this fundraising event. Valente said that “the fundraiser of Mr. MHS has been going on for about 40 years but there has been some breaks in between.” The fundraiser was not continuous for 40 years. He said that “the fundraiser had originally started back in the 1970’s until the 1980’s then it stopped happening and started back again in the early 2000’s.”
Valente said that the point of the fundraiser is to “raise money to print the yearbooks since the school does not provide a budget for the yearbook and starts at a zero balance every year.” The Mr. MHS event helps the Maldonian class make the prices of the books stay at the same price.
Valente said that “it costs close to $30,000 to produce the yearbook which means [they] need to find a way to raise [the money].” He mentions that “[some of the money] comes from sales of the yearbooks but not all of it. About half of the money comes from sales so all of the remaining money needs to come from somewhere else.” The rest of the money that needs to be brought in needs to be fundraised.
Valente said that ”right now [the Maldonian has] the cheapest price for their yearbook at $85 and [they] have the most content in the yearbook.” He adds that the yearbook is “fully colored” They are able to keep it at that price by raising the level of fundraising they have to do.
Valente said that “[he] could easily sell the yearbook for $100 and [they] would not need to do fundraising, [but] that is not the idea. [They] want to make sure that the yearbook is affordable so [they] take extra effort with fundraising.”
The Mr. MHS event is a schoolwide event and anyone in the senior class who is male can ask to participate in it. Then, their names will be drawn out of the hat and the top seven names will be chosen to compete in the competition.
The reason why there are only seven people who are drawn to be in the competition is because of the time consumption. If you break down the show, it has main major sections that are involved with it. There is a beach wear section, casual wear section that has talents tied with it, an impression section where the students can impersonate a teacher, staff member, or coach, and there is also a formal wear section.
Valente explains that “a competitor can win is based on how well they are scored by the judges.” He said that “this year the judges included Mayor Christenson, Joe Levine, Allen Phelps, Catherine Mulligan, Jeanne Marquardo, and Joshua London.”
An audience member can also become a guest judge by getting their number pulled out of a hat. The number is on the white ticket they get during the begging of the show. This drawing during intermission during the second half of the show.
Valente said that “the guest judge can help [raise] up the score of a contestant [and] that is how [someone] might win.” He also said that “the audience can help if they can help identify who the contestant is impersonating during that round.” He said that “if a judge hears the audience yell the person they are trying to impersonate he knows the contestant is going a good job and will give him a higher score.”
Phillip Pereira was one of the contestants in the show he joined the show because he “wanted to help Mr. Valente out in some way.” Even though he didn’t win he was “happy to be a candidate and to participate [in the event].”
Pereira said that “the event means alot since there is only [about] three weeks left of Senior year being apart of the event to someone [he] looks up to.” He said “even though [he] didn’t win [he] was able to be apart of something [cool] during his Senior year.”
When a contestant is crowned Mr. MHS he can get two free prom tickets, second place gets $50 off their tux rental, and third place gets $25 off their tux rental. This year the winner for Mr. MHS was Walter Analetto.
The reason why someone would want to go to the next Mr. MHS event is because it is unscripted. Valente said that “[he] has some idea of what might happen and they have to have a talent and [he] is told they have a talent.” Pereira also said “it will be fun and it will also help the year’s class fundraise as well.”
