Sebastian Boehm named Mr. SHS

The red carpet rolled out across the Sisters High School auditorium stage as the Mr. SHS pageant presented "A Night at the Oscars."

Sebastian Boehm was crowned Mr. SHS, while Trevor Ford was named Mr. Congeniality and Jennifer Houk was honored as best escort.

The event carried a movie theme, and emcees Sydney Stoneback and Samantha Williamson presented contestants to the audience as characters ranging from Captain Jack Sparrow to Spiderman, the wizard Gandalf to Sherlock Holmes. The movie characters joined together in a costumed dance, with the nearly full-house audience clapping rhythmically and whooping and shouting encouragement.

Each contestant displayed a particular talent or explored a passion in the "special features" portion of the "Oscar" presentation.

Boehm gathered friends together for a "treadmill dance" (a link to a video is available at www.

nuggetnews.com).

Connor Morgan (escort, Jennifer Houk) described the life lessons he has garnered from pursuing his passion for lacrosse - even though he wasn't much good at it when he started out.

"Lacrosse has made me a better person, and I'm proud of the person it has helped me to become," he said. "I'm glad I stayed with it all those years ago."

Sam Bearzi (Chelsey Davidson) rallied Jake McAllister and Amity Calvin to accompany him in playing Pachabele's Canon in D Major. Brennan Layne (Felicia Zandonatti) tapped an unexpected talent on the piano (having never played before). He learned a song through a Youtube tutorial and performed it for his peers.

William Saunders (Lauren Rudinsky) demonstrated his passion for rock climbing while sticking to the movie theme. He performed as Spiderman scaling a climbing wall to rescue a damsel in distress.

Davidson Small (Elise Herron) offered up an original song - "We All Fall Down" - performed on a guitar he built himself, followed by Jared Schneider (Rebecca Thomas) who performed a rap that turned into an exhortation to make a difference in the world.

Trevor Ford (Noel Chen), who overcame a youthful distaste for his violin lessons, has become a talented musician, which he showed in a solo upright bass performance that touched jazz and classical music before rolling into The Beatles' "Come Together."

Brett Pray (McKenizie Legg) shared a song that resonates powerfully with him - Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." He was followed by Conor Greaney, (Courtney Blust) joined by friends in a dance skit that is impossible to describe in words (see photo).

The playfulness of the evening underscored a serious purpose. The students all raised funds to be donated to Sisters Family Access Network. FAN advocates Dawn Cooper and Theresa Slavkovsky described the impact FAN donations have had on one particular Sisters family, whom they did not identify by name. The family was able to pick up basic hygiene items contributed through an SHS campaign and were given winter coats donated by Columbia Sportswear. Through donated items and steering the family to community assistance resources, they have been able to build a stable life in Sisters.

"The children are succeeding in school," Slavkovsky said. "This is a real success story."

Many of the contestants expressed profound appreciation to their families, and one of the more touching moments came when each contestant presented a flower to his mom.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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