Mr. North Harford crowned

On February 28, the drums rolled as an envelope was passed and the Mr. North Harford 2020 was announced:  Max Henkel!

      Thirteen boys were a part of the annual Mr. North Harford production. The show was run by the journalism staff members and the two hosts senior staff editors Tori Gay and Aleah Bikle kept the show moving along smoothly, while still entertaining the crowd. Beginning the show, the seats were filled with tons from the North Harford and Pylesville community. 

     The 2019-2020 journalism staff began the show with a dance they performed while the boys walked through the crowd, spotlights bringing all eyes to the boys. 

     Five judges including Mrs. Larissa Arist, Mrs. Joanna Dallam, Mrs. Carla Harward, Mrs. Nolan, and Mrs. Laura O’Leary were in charge of assessing every category and ultimately tallying the results for a winner.  

   The boys lined up with their moms and were introduced to the viewers, their bios filled with jokes filling the auditorium with laughs and smiles. These include Senior, Gonzalo Revilla who was described as, “always smiling in the hallways,” and sophomore Griffin Hevesy, who jokingly said he was named, “NBA all-star 16 times in a row.” 

     Each boy had a talent to showcase. Returning Senior Noah Dehart’s showcased a skit with Jeffrey Tidey about the ways to act on a date. Senior Austin Borns attended the show and explained, “all of the talent was great, I loved seeing my friend Noah’s skit with Jeffrey the most.” 

   Every year the show features new elements and this year was no different.  Gay and Bikle explained, “the new categories we came up with this year momma knows best and they were my favorite part of the show.”   In this category the moms were asked questions about their son while the boys had noise cancelling headphones on. Once mom answered the question, the boy was asked to answer the same question,  in an attempt to match the responses.

     NH senior and winner of the 2020 competition Max Henkel exclaimed, “My favorite part of the show was when I was impersonating Freddie Mercury. I was so excited to perform all of that music, and I had worked very hard on the performance aspect of the performance, too. I had absolutely no idea that the audience would react so positively to the performance. They sang all of the songs with me! It was such a magical and humbling experience. I had so much fun!”

      All aspects of coordinating, writing the script, and creating stage directions were all planned by the journalism staff, and mainly hosts Bikle and Gay. Bikle further explained, “while organizing every part of the show was extremely time consuming, it all paid off in the end, seeing how we interacted with the crowd and all of the hard work the competitors put in.”  Journalism advisor Mrs. Jennifer Chandler said she this event is a “team effort from start to finish.” 

     Henkle’s name was announced during the 2020 “Winn-ing moment”, a now yearly moment that recognizes Winn Berrell, a former Mr. NH who passed away the summer following his crowning. 

 Henkel said, “ I was so shocked when they announced my name. I participated in Mr. North Harford just so I could have fun, since I love to perform. I didn’t really expect to win at all, so it came as quite a shock to me. Especially considering the fact that there were so many talented participants! I was so proud of everyone who participated in the show.”