The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Despite being pushed off track by the COIVID-19 pandemic school shutdown, students found a way to present their annual Mr. SHS pageant at Sisters High School to raise money for Sisters Family Access Network (FAN).

A group of students is chosen by the Sisters High School staff for their leadership and outstanding student qualities; as contestants they commit to working hard to fundraise and represent Sisters High School in the community. There are four main events for the fundraiser including the pasta feed, a dodgeball game against Redmond High School, pie in the face, and the main event, the pageant itself.

This year’s pageant was coordinated by four juniors: Emilie Turpen, Olivia Bertagna, Shelby Larson and Tatum Sitz. They put in countless hours towards all of the events including choreographing dances, leading weekly meetings, doing the behind-the-scenes preparation work for the events, getting donations, putting together all the contestants videos and so much more in the hopes that SHS and each contestant would shine and a lot of money would be raised for FAN.

Each year the pageant has a theme that guides the pageant’s elements. The theme for this year’s pageant was Roadtrip. The coordinators were the bus drivers. Emma Farley and Taylor Fendall were wrestlers, Lydia Bartlett and Sam Nicklous were PCT hikers, Caiti Schwab and Logan Curtis were lumberjacks, Delsie McCrystal and Spencer Morgan were skiers and snowboarders, Samantha Silva and Brogan Petterson were surfers, Joelle Asson and Osmond Bates were fashion gurus, Lola Green and Drew Collins Burke were river guides, Hallie Schwartz and Garrett Kersavage were farmers, Maddison Anderson and Dan Schmidt were astronauts, and Olivia Hougham and Sam Thorsett were jungle explorers.

Early in the year, with the support of a generous community, the Mr. SHS team was able to raise $3,000 for FAN through the pasta feed, dodgeball tournament, and pie in the face event. However due to COVID-19, they were unable to host the pageant, originally planned for March 14.

“With the closure happening just two days before the event, coordinators and contestants were devastated,” Olivia Bertagna reported. “Each and everyone of these students had dedicated time to their dance routines, talents, videos and interview questions in preparation for the event.”

Bertagna said that the student leaders were not ready to give up on all of their hard work, and most importantly, they all were not ready to give up on fundraising for the Family Access Network.

So these students have been hard at work putting together a virtual Mr. SHS pageant. They have created a YouTube playlist containing all of the contestants videos and more.

Find their work on YouTube under the channel name is Mr. SHS 2020.

The winners of this year’s virtual pageant are Dan Schmidt and Maddison Anderson.

“If you would like to donate that would be great,” Bertagna said. “Or if you would like a smile and just want to watch the videos that would be great as well.”