McCallum held its second annual Teacher’s and Tiaras pageant, Jan 14th and crowned Spanish teacher Juana Gun the winner. Eight teachers showcased a variety of talents ranging from singing and dancing to juggling and throwing on the pottery wheel. There was also a formal wear section and a question and answer question.
“This year Mr. (Tom) Waterson [sang] and Mr. (Joshua) Denning [sang] and they were both really good,” AV teacher Ken Rogers said. “We have a few teachers that did some really cool, funny dances. Some of the talents are funny. Mr. (Scott) Pass is an amazing juggler.”
Gun participated in the pageant last year but lost to English teacher Nikki Northcutt. This year she got the most votes and won the crown.
“[Last year] I danced to cumbia but I had no costume; therefore, I did not win,” Gun said. “I had a lot of fun last year, which made me want to participate again. I highly recommend it to all the teachers.”
Each person who attended the show had to purchase a ticket. The ticket allowed them to vote for the teacher with the best performance. The show benefited AV club.
“We are helping Mr. Rogers,” Spanish teacher Juana Gun said. “The whole goal is to help the AV kids buy more equipment or replace broken equipment. I do it to help Mr. Rogers because he helps me with Ballet Folklorico, so it’s for the good of the kids in the end.”
The night started out with Nikki Northcutt singing.
“Last year Nikki Northcutt sang “We are the Champions” by Queen,” Rogers said. “It was really, really good.”
Carey West, the ceramics and photography teacher, threw on the potter’s wheel to the song “You Spin Me Right Round” by Dead or Alive. She created a bowl that she then donated to the silent auction.
“I think throwing on the potters wheel is something I do really well,” West said.
Security guard Georgia Pina sang an original song, created by one of Rogers’ students. She put up posters around the school and wore a sash and a tiara weeks before the pageant.
“I couldn’t pronounce all the words [in the song],” Pina said, “so me and Mrs. [Margaret] Powell redid [the song]. Then I redid them [the lyrics] again.”
Gun danced to the chicken dance and cumbia. She wore a chicken costume to make her dance more fun and to connect to the audience, she said.
“Everything I do all day is Spanish language and finding the connections to the English language,” Gun said. “I look at music the same way. I can find a song in English, and then if I try hard enough, I can find a matching Spanish song out there. So the connection was to grab everyone in the audience.”
Gun said she enjoyed winning the pageant and has been wearing the crown and sash.
“I’ve never been crowned anything, so that was a lot of fun,” Gun said. “I have been wearing my crown two days now [after the show].”
Photos by Mary Stites.
