The Story Behind Man Pageant

Anna Erickson

Minnetonka High School has a week in February called Heart Week. It is a week where everyone celebrates Valentine’s Day; the school is covered in pink and red, and everyone is in the Valentine’s Day spirit. Friday is one of the most exciting days of the week during Heart Week, because of Man Pageant. Every year Minnetonka High School has a tradition of performing a talent show and ten senior boys who were voted by the senior class are involved with two or three senior girls who MCs and they have to
tryout. Only juniors and seniors can attend the pageant. The man pageant has grown throughout the years. Minnetonka raises a lot of money from the show and the school gives it all to families that are struggling.

The boys and the girls in the pageant have a lot of pressure on them to be funny and talented. I know this because I was the MC for the 2015 Man Pageant. You do not get a script or get told what to do. You have so much freedom to do whatever you want being a MCs. This is difficult, because you have to make everything up on your own and go off on what the guys are doing for their talent. You have to entertain the audience the entire show and you cannot have any dead air, which was pretty challenging. The week went by really fast and we still had so much to prepare for the final show. It is Thursday and it is our first and only rehearsal. It was fun seeing everyones talents. It was so hard because we were so unprepared and justing getting in the groove of everything and knowing where to go at certain parts of the pageant. It is all the sudden Friday and the nerves started kicking in. It is show time and the MCs and I are still nervous. The MCs are the first ones to go out and they really set the tone for the whole show. The bright lights helped me stay relaxed, because I could not see the audience. After our first skit the audience just went nuts and that is when my nerves went away and it was unreal. I was fired up. The Man Pageant was an unforgettable experience being on stage and entertaining the whole upper class, staff, and parents.