Friday, March 11th, the OHS Student Council hosted the Mr. Spartan event. Mr. Spartan is a fundraiser for the Student Council. This year, it was the 25th annual Mr. Spartan at Olympia High School. It also is the second biggest event for Olympia Spartan spirit aside from Homecoming week. Essentially, Mr. Spartan is a mock male beauty pageant for junior and senior boys. 

This year there were 9 contestants: Neil Alford, Ashton Campbell, Logan Farquhar, Rogelio Hernandez, Shay Hunt Schroers, Jayson Michel, Ian Murphy, Carter Phillips, and Austin Swan. Each boy is sponsored by a club, activity, or sport at Olympia. The sponsor pays a small entry fee to buy in their contestant. Then, the student who wins Mr. Spartan earns even more money for their club. 

To begin the night, the contestants showcased their dancing skills in a group opening number performance. Then, they all have a sportswear competition, focused on showcasing their sponsor. The biggest part of Mr. Spartan is a talent competition. This year was probably the most unique with a wide range of talents. The boys sang, danced, sumo wrestled, did magic tricks, ate lots of food fast, and even carved a swan out of an apple. Very interesting! The second part of the show included first date attire and the interview portion. Each contestant showed the audience what their ideal first date was and brought out an escort, too. Finally, the 5 finalists were announced and moved onto the last interview portion. Five judges were randomly selected to ask any question they wanted to the boy chosen. Then, all the votes were tallied and the top 5 were announced in descending order to the winner!

The overall winner of Mr. Spartan is judged by their performance, crowd appeal, creativity, and enthusiasm. There are 10 judges of teachers, faculty, staff, community members, and high school students. There is also a People’s Choice winner. This contestant is chosen from audience voting that occurs at intermission. Neil Alford, a senior, sponsored by Marching Band, was the overall winner of Mr. Spartan and also chosen as the People’s Choice!

The OHS Student Council and advisor, Mrs. Cooper, would like to thank the following businesses as sponsors for the prize packages given to the top 5: Collins Roofing, DP Dough, Girl Scout Troop 1065, Men’s Wearhouse, Vicky’s Boutique & Gifts, Danvers’ Fast Stop, and Olympia Booster Club. A special thanks also goes to Joel Brigham, the master of ceremonies announcer. Mr. Spartan is such a fun event hosted by the Student Council!