Article by Zachary Lee, an aspiring journalist and contestant in Mr. Batavia.
It’s finally here: the Mr. Batavia contest will be held at 7 p.m. April 15th — be there.
Mr. Batavia this year will be the biggest we’ve ever had; the occupancy of the auditorium at Batavia High School is around 800 and we intend to fill that to the point the auditorium doors are bursting.
Mr. Batavia is a community charity event; each candidate selects a nonprofit organization to represent with the charity of the contest the top three winners receiving money raised. In Mr. Batavia there are five different categories, each scored by selected judges from throughout the community. They are lip sync, talent, questionnaire, swimsuit, and tux walk. The guys also do a group dance in the beginning to get the audience hyped up for the contest.
Last year’s Mr. Batavia was probably one of the best we’ve ever produced here at BHS. Whether it was Brandon Smart’s Micheal Jackson tribute or Dylan Beckman’s dramatic reading of "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj, these performances were borderline legendary. The 12 candidates up for Mr. Batavia 2016 believe that they can do even better.
Lisa Robinson, event director and student government advisor said, “Mr. Batavia is an event where we raise money for community nonprofits. Everywhere this event gets larger and we believe this year will be easily our largest we’ve had. ”
Here are the candidates and the nonprofit organizations they represent in the order they’ll perform:
- Tyler Hale – Michael Napoleon Foundation
- Noah Dobbertin – 25 Neediest
- Adonis Davis – All Babies Cherished
- Zachary Lee – Anna’s Wish
- Trevor Sherwood – Batavia VA
- Alex Mott – Golisano’s Children Hospital
- Michael Hughes – Habitat for Humanity
- Alex Canty – Volunteers for Animals
- Ross Chua – Organization for Autism Research
- Jake Kasmarek – Genesee Cancer Assistance
- Josh Kurtz – Salvation Army
- Dwayne Fonda -- American Red Cross
