The classes of 2027 and 2028 came together to host their spring fundraiser “Mr. McCallum.” an all male-identifying pageant, this past week. This was a past tradition from many years ago that brought together the school and raised money for the student council. In 2022, class of 2024 attempted to bring back this contest with a fundraiser called “Knight Star.” This was generally the same idea as Mr. McCallum, but included all genders and was limited to just seniors. This event never hit the stage, due to the lack of interest from the student population. The classes of 2027 and 2028 wanted to bring back an event that alluded more to the original show, all male and all grades. After many months of planning, the council gained seven candidates and began to prepare for the show. These candidates included freshman Max Marcus, sophomores Bryce Masthay and EB Parry, and juniors Joseph Blackwood, Will Bowman, Dylan Fissel and Darby Roldan. The council put a new twist on the traditional fundraiser by adding additional activities week prior, in hopes of gaining engagement from the students. These events were a scavenger hunt, ice bucket challenge, pizza eating contest and bar hang challenge. The activities helped the contestants gain supporters and points if they were able to earn a position on the podium depending on how much money they raised for each challenge from sponsors. The week ended similarly to the original show, with a pageant with a talent and question portions. The candidates also came together to perform a dance to open the show. Junior Joseph Blackwood in third, freshman Max Marcus came in second, and junior Dylan Fissel ending the pageant with first place, earning him the grand title of “Mr. McCallum.”
UP IN THE AIR: Junior Dylan Fissel performs a juggling act for the talent portion of the Mr. McCallum pageant on Saturday night. As this year’s winner of the Mr. McCallum contest, Fissel said he actually initially joined just for the fun experience alongside friend, junior Darby Roland who also participated.
“I wanted to do Mr. McCallum because I thought it would be fun to do with Darby even though we went into it not knowing what it was,” Fissel said.
As an athlete, Fissel says it was a really cool experience to be able to perform in front of an audience, something he has not done before.
“My favorite part of Mr. McCallum was the actual show because I’ve never performed in front of an audience like that, and it was overall a great experience,” Fissel said.
As the winner, Fissel felt his hard work throughout the week and leading up to it paid off. Fissel said he was grateful to win with all the other talented contestants also participating.
“It was both exciting and rewarding to win,” Fissel said. “At the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad because I knew how much Darby wanted to win, but we both put in a lot of effort leading up to the show.”
As the tradition was revived this year, Fissel said it was a fun tradition to participate in and enjoy alongside the other contestants.
“The process with Mr. McCallum was really fun and enjoyable,” Fissel said. “I had a great leader who helped guide me through every step, making things clear and easy to follow. Also working with Darby was a highlight of Mr. McCallum because we made a great team and kept each other motivated.”
Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo by Lillian Gray.
ROCKING OUT: Sophomore EB Parry performs a bass solo for the Mr. McCallum contest held on May 10 which featured each of the applicant’s special talents ranging from juggling to painting to tricycle riding.
Parry said that ever since the contest was reintroduced, he had a fierce desire to try and become the Mr. McCallum.
“I woke up one day with a fire in my eye that I was like, ‘I need to be Mr. McCallum,’” Parry said.
As he is a part of the Fine Arts Academy, Parry said he has experience performing in front of an audience and feels comfortable on stage.
“I am part of the Fine Arts Academy for performance theater, so despite my acting being sub-par, I do actually enjoy performing.”
Parry said alongside his own performance, his favorite part was seeing the other applicants’ talent exhibitions.
“There’s a talent show, and there was a dance portion, so it was a pretty cool show,” Parry said. “It was all fun and seeing the other guys’ talents was also pretty cool.”
As a sophomore, Parry said he might consider attempting to run for Mr. McCallum in future years just for the fun experience.
Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo by Lillian Gray.
UNIQUE UNICYCLING: Junior Will Bowman rides a unicycle while naming U.S. presidents for his talent show performance for the Mr. McCallum pageant on Saturday night. Junior Dylan Fissel was crowned “Mr. McCallum” while freshman Max Marcus came in second, and junior Joseph Blackwood in third. Although Bowman didn’t win Mr. McCallum, he is still grateful for the experience.
“It would have been great to walk out a winner, but we knew going in that six of the seven of us weren’t going to be crowned Mr. McCallum,” Bowman said. “We all had a great time together, and I hope to see some of them again when we run it back next year.”
Bowman originally learned how to ride a unicycle as a kid, and had to relearn the skill for the competition.
“My dad taught me when I was a kid,” Bowman said. “ It’s one of those things that you just don’t forget. I was able to get back up on it within a few minutes after years without practicing. I practiced a few minutes every couple of days by riding a few feet and falling until I was able to do circles, like I did at the show.”
Bowman chose to combine his unicycling talent with his expertise of the U.S. presidents for his unique performance.
“I was told to come up with a ‘talent,’” Bowman said. “I offered unicycling as a joke, and my mentor liked it, so I added on the presidents to make it even more ridiculous. My second grade teacher had us memorize the presidents, and trust me, there’s no point in memorizing all of them—unless you can recite them while riding a unicycle of course.”
Although Bowman was worried about how the performance would play out, once he got on stage, he felt comfortable.
“It was probably the weirdest thing I’ve done, and I was so worried I was going to mess it up, but when I got up there and just got moving, it felt great,” he said. “I definitely recommend unicycling in front of large crowds.”
Caption by Evelyn Jenkins. Photo by Lillian Gray.
MCCALLUM’S MISSES MEISTERS: Sophomores Hallie Cooper, Carson Duncan and freshman Bella Blanco present at the Mr. McCallum show on Saturday. The celebration, held at the MAC, was the revival of a tradition that had paused a few years ago.
Student Council promoted and put on the competition, aimed at funding the class of 2027’s prom. Duncan, as sophomore class president, oversaw all of the weekly activities leading up to the event, the selection of the candidates, the show at the end of the week and everything in between. Cooper, dubbed performance director by President Duncan and Vice President Berit Ellwanger because of her experience in theater, helped organize the duck event as one of the weekly activities, directed the final performance and wrote the script with Ellwanger.
Both Cooper and Duncan learned about the previous Mr. McCallum competitions through their class sponsor, dance director Terrance Carson. He participated in the show when he attended McCallum, which inspired them to bring back the beloved tradition.
Duncan said the culminating show on Saturday helped to tie together the whole event.
“My favorite part was definitely getting to see our two classes and the candidates come together to produce the show,” Duncan reflected. “By Saturday, I feel like we were all having a lot of fun. I have loved working alongside the freshman president Bella Blanco because she is such an amazing leader.”
Caption by Carlo Hinsdale. Photo by Lillian Gray.
SINGING LOUD: Freshman Max Marcus sings “Put Your Head on my Shoulder” for Saturday night’s talent show for the Mr. McCallum contest. Throughout the week, he also performed in many other competitions and games leading up to the show.
Marcus explained that at the beginning of the show he was nervous, but as time went on he started to feel more comfortable and more excited to perform.
“I was nervous at the start and by the end I kinda got in my groove.” Marcus said, “I was definitely more comfortable in the second half, and that made it more easy to do.”
Although Marcus wasn’t originally supposed to be a part of Mr. McCallum, multiple dropouts of the competitions gave him the opportunity to show off his talents and perform in the show.
“I wasn’t supposed to be in it, but a lot of people dropped out, so they just put me in it,” Marcus said.
Marcus said his favorite part was the talent show partly because he got to see the other contestant’s performances as well.
“My favorite part was probably the talent show, since I got to sing and that was pretty fun,” Marcus said, “My favorite performance was Joseph Blackwood, because of his abstract painting.”
Caption by Piper Norfolk. Photo by Lillian Gray.
WHO’S ON THIRD: Junior theatre major Joseph Blackwood paints a sunset with two mountains. The piece was titled “Pillars of Hope” and represented one of Blackwood’s first attempts at painting. Blackwood’s unique talent helped him gain third place overall in the contest. Junior Dylan Fissel and junior Will Bowman, one of Blackwood’s longtime friends, placed first and second place respectively.
“I chose to do a painting because I wanted to stand out, and I’d never painted before, especially not in front of an audience, so I wanted to try it out,” Blackwood said. “It was scary, but I think it was worth it in the end.”
Blackwood said that camaraderie between the contestants allowed him to overcome his anxieties about competing in a pageant for the first time. He said that the competitive atmosphere was ideal for him and made him feel relatively at ease.
“Mr. McCallum initially was pretty nerve-wracking, but as I got to know all of the contestants and all of the guides, it became really fun,” Blackwood said. “I was surprised by how much of a team all of the contestants were. While it was a competition, it felt more like a cast of people working together to make this show. I’m happy we all worked together well and were so compassionate towards each other.”
Blackwood said his relationship with Bowman particularly enlivened the experience. Bowman and Blackwood both attended Lamar Middle School, and both are theatre majors now, who’ve been in numerous productions with each other. During the various challenges that led up to the final day of the contest, the two frequently ribbed each other in mock-competition.
“I’ve known Will for quite a while, he’s a really good friend of mine, and it was good to work with him, both cooperatively and competitively,” Bowman said. “I think it made the process easier, getting to work with someone I was already friends with, and I’m happy I got to do it with Will. If Will competes next year, I will consider competing, but I need a new talent!”
Blackwood’s favorite aspect of the contest was the challenges, including the water bucket challenge, the bar hang and the pizza eating challenge. He said that they provided him with an opportunity to get to know the other contestants. Ultimately, Blackwood said that Mr. McCallum represented an opportunity to step outside of his comfort zone. He said that to him, the contest signified the importance of venturing into uncharted waters.
“I initially decided to join because it was a big opportunity that I was offered, and I thought that I’d rather regret doing it than regret not doing it,” Blackwood said. “I just wanted to try something new and have fun. If you never try something new, you’ll never have a story to tell. It’s important to take risks in life because it’s what makes life interesting, and I think Mr. McCallum was a perfect example of that.”
Caption by Beatrix Lozach. Photo by Lillian Gray.
PAGEANT TOWARDS PROM :Sophomore Remy Lily passes out sashes and prizes to members of Mr. McCallum pageant, including winner Dylan Fissel on Saturday night. Lily was the guide lead, who made sure all participants had a person to tell them what was going on and where to be.
“I also helped during the day of the show to set everything up, and make everything run smoothly,” Lily said.
The pageant was brought back by the class of 2027 student council, to raise money for their prom.
“We wanted to start something that we could add onto and grow the next couple of years,” Lily said.
Lily said she is unsure of the exact amount, but knows they made a solid dent towards prom, marking the fundraiser a success.
“And now that we’ve done it once we can keep the momentum going the next couple of years,” Lily said. “Hopefully it will continue to grow since more people know about it.”
Along with the fundraiser being successful, Lily says it was also a very enjoyable and entertaining show for the McCallum community.
“I loved seeing all the different guys from different grades and groups bond throughout it,” Lily said. “By the end they were all cheering each other on, and it was such a great group to be a part of.”
Caption by Adele Seeboth. Photo by Lillian Gray.
DUNKED ON: For his talent portion of the show, junior Darby Roldan dunks over his sophomore Marlow Walsh at the Mr. McCallum pageant held on Saturday night. The Mr. McCallum show is an all-male identifying pageant. It was an established tradition and an annual fundraiser to support of the Student Council, but it was discontinued but then reinstated this year to help raise money for the 2027 prom.
Roldan said he decided to compete in the pageant because it was an opportunity to show off his skills and still have fun.
“I thought it’d be fun to try something new, and I wanted to do it with Dylan Fissel, one of my junior running mates,” Roldan said. “We agreed that we would do it together.”
At the show itself, each participant was required to showcase their unique talents, in order to set them apart from the rest of the competition. As Roldan is on the basketball team, he decided to demonstrate his dunking abilities on stage.
“When I was deciding what my act was going to be, I was thinking about what I could do and what I could learn, so I tied some of my basketball skills into acrobats,” Roldan said. “I learned the cartwheel pretty quickly. For my act, I did a cartwheel, then a dunk, and then I lowered the hook a little bit, and I brought out Marlow, and she sat in a chair and then I jumped and dunked over her.”
Although Roldan wished he got a higher ranking, he was nevertheless proud of Dylan Fissel for winning the whole pageant and was grateful to be a part of such a unique McCallum experience.
“My favorite part of the whole experience was when the curtains first opened and like, you see the crowd and it all became real,” Roldan said “It was all building up to that moment, and It was extremely exciting.”
Caption by Sophia Manos. Photo by Lillian Gray.
COLD, HARD CASH: Juniors Will Bowman, Dylan Fissel and Joseph Blackwood get dunked with ice water for the ice bucket challenge portion of the Mr. McCallum contest in the courtyard last Tuesday. This year, the class of 2027 held a fundraiser in conjunction with the Mr. McCallum pageant and the three contestants who raised the most money got dunked with ice-cold water with all the proceeds going to the class of 2027.
Fissel won first place by earning the most money for the ice bucket contest with Blackwood finishing second and Bowman, third.
“I was excited and a little bewildered because I only had a minute before they had announced that I was one of the three who won, and I totally thought I was losing,” Bowman said. “It was cold. I severely underestimated the frigidity of the ice cubes.”
Excepting Friday, the contestants had a different challenge each day last week, with the first, second and third placing contestants earning bonus points towards their final score in the pageant. First place in each contest earned three points; second place, two; and third place, one.
“I thought it would be a fun challenge, and it is so far,” Bowman said. “It was fun doing a stupid thing in front of a crowd.”
It turns out those three bonus points came in handy for Fissel who was named Mr. McCallum at the conclusion of the Mr. McCallum pageant on Saturday night.
Caption by Sophia Manos. Photo by Maggie Mass.
RUNNER UP: Freshman Max Marcus is awarded his second place sash at the end of the Mr. McCallum pageant on Saturday night. Mr. McCallum contest. He won the title of Mr. Congeniality, for the person who was the most friendly.
At first, Marcus said he wasn’t even supposed to be in the running, but due to people dropping out, he made the cut.
“I guess I was bored,” Marcus said. “I got nominated, and then I just got called in.”
Prior to the talent show, Marcus’ favorite challenge was the bar hang on Thursday, where he got second place. However, he said he enjoyed the talent show at the end the most, where he got to showcase his singing since he does choir and musical theater.
“I sang ‘Put Your Head on My Shoulder,’” Marcus said. “I was gonna sing something else, but then my friend suggested that song, so I had to learn it the day of.”
His favorite talents of the other contestants were junior Will Bowman riding a unicycle and junior Joseph Blackwood’s painting.
“It was good, a lot of people had pretty cool talents,” Marcus said.
Caption by Callen Romell. Photo by Lillian Gray.
![WORKING TOGETHER: McCallum Dance Company performs the student-choreographed “Dancing with Death” during last Tuesday’s dress rehearsal before the spring dance show. Sophomore Pia Sosa performed in five different numbers during the show and thought that everything went well even despite a few challenges.
“I was getting a little worried closer to the end because there were still a lot of changes happening and people getting shuffled around into places,” Sosa said. “But by the tech week and by the shows, it really felt like we all worked together and came together.”
Sosa’s favorite part was performing “Come Play,” which was choreographed by junior Maya Tien. Sosa loved being able to work with Tien because of her level of preparation and being able to perform hip hop, since the dance company does not perform that style as much.
“It’s the first number I do in the show, and I always just felt like it gave me so much energy,” Sosa said. “It felt really good because we rarely do hip hop, so it just felt like such a great opportunity to do something that I don’t get to do all the time.”
Sosa explained that there were some challenges due to sudden changes in several pieces, however Sosa said she was proud of how the company responded as a whole.
“Everybody put their best foot forward and pushed through any challenges that they were having,” Sosa said. “I’m really proud of how the company handled it all.”
Overall, Sosa said she is grateful for all the work put in by the dance directors and the student choreographers for producing the show.
“We couldn’t have put the show together without [them],” Sosa said. “Mac dance is amazing and I can’t wait to choreograph next year.”
Caption by Riley Pita. Photo by Harper Maxwell.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/54471134934_215f07dcfb_o_54485123147_o-1-1200x800.jpg)
