Senior Jonathan Poffley, also known as “Poffdaddy,” earned himself a new title Friday night – Mr. Whitman.

At this year’s Mr. Whitman competition, the judges included English and journalism teacher Prudence Crewdson, math teacher Tyler Wilkinson and history teacher Mike Curran.

After performing a dazzling dance number to start the show, the 12 senior contestants escorted their moms across the stage, sporting formal attire. The audience learned during the contestants’ cunning bios that Lucas Karron invented the “Swag wagon,” Patrick Hisle found Nemo, and Isaac Rubin can sing, dance, and wear pants all at the same time.

Each contestant then demonstrated his ability to use pick-up lines on the MCs. The crowd erupted in laughter when Eyal Hanfling asked, “Are you a member of the board game club? Cause I kind of want to checka-checka-checka you out.”

During the talent portion, Evan Cernea presented a slide show entitled “How To Pose and Caption Your Facebook Photos.” He taught the audience how to best achieve pictures such as “the mirror pic,” “food as a prop,” and the “over the shoulder smolder.”

Lucas Karron left the audience in awe by rapping and dancing to his own version of “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore. He called it “Sandwich Shop,” as the lyrics described his sandwich making experiences.

Poffley painted a self-portrait while dancing to “Rude Boy” by Rihanna. He concluded his performance by dramatically painting a pink heart on his black shirt.

Fellow contestant Pablo Ramirez said he was impressed with Poffley’s talent. “He paints on stage and in four minutes manages to create something that you think you’d see in Festival of the Arts,” he said.

After watching a video of the contestants revealing their biggest competition, preferences for boxers or briefs, and best teacher date, it was time for the first elimination round.

The six remaining boys were Ben James, Jonathan Poffley, Isaac Rubin, Lucas Karron, Nick Holden, and Evan Cernea.

The boys had to pick questions from a hat for the second round of competition. In his answer, Ben James told the crowd that if he were a Jelly Bean, he would be popcorn flavored.

“I’m smooth like butter,” he said.

The judges then narrowed the competition to three contestants – Poffley, Rubin and Cernea. The boys revealed what they would hypothetically say at their 25th high school reunion as a final chance to win the judges’ affection.
After a moment of suspense, Rubin was named Mr. Congeniality, and Poffley was crowned Mr. Whitman.

Director Leslie Schwed said she was pleased with the show.

“I think the boys did awesome,” she said. “It was really fun working with all of them.”

Junior Clara Li said she thought the show was unlike ones she had seen in the past.

“This year all the talents were completely different, it wasn’t just mainly singing and dancing,” she said. “I really enjoyed it this year.”

Poffley said he had not foreseen his victory, though others attributed the win to his calm, collected charm.

“Do what you love, love what you do,” he said.