The stage. The lights. The buzzing crowd. The sharply dressed men milling around behind the black curtain. It was a little too much for me, a small town girl with big dreams, as I waited patiently for my time to cross the stage on the arm of my best friend and Frisbee co-captain, as we walked across the platform at this year’s Mr. Stonehill competition.

The show, a sort of parody on the traditional Miss America pageants, is one of the biggest and most attended events of the year at Stonehill. The contestants try out and are selected based on their talents, personality, and presence in the Stonehill community. They then spend the next two months being coached in grace, elegance, poise, style and stage presence, working tirelessly to give themselves an advantage.

The hosts, who guide us on this journey through the competition, come to know the contestants and plan their jokes accordingly. Alex Girard, Gabby Salce, Joe Palladino ,and Love Boussiquot did an incredible job keeping the audience equally entertained and informed about the contestants, making us fall in love with both the participants and themselves.

The show is divided up into three categories: swimsuit, talent, and formal dress.

The swimsuit section this year showed the sheer creativity of the contestants. Featuring an elegantly floating jellyfish, Squints from "The Sandlot," a more coordinated rendition of Left Shark, and some very fancy sandy cheeks, the audience barely had a second to breathe between fits of laughter.

The talent didn’t disappoint either. This is really the meat of the performance, the place where the contestants really have to prove how badly they want the title. Whether it be dancing, comedy routines, impersonations, improv, or twerkin’ it out, these young men strutted their stuff and bopped their way to the top.

Formal dress implores “Ooo’s” and “Ahh’s” from the audience and tears from the mothers of contestants, as the competitors walk across the stage in their fitted rented tuxes with their lovely escorts on their arms, and responded to questions from the hosts. I was lucky enough to be asked to be an escort by contestant Tyler Hall.

A panel of judges comprised of students, past winners, and faculty members evaluate these three sections based on a series of intricate lists of criteria. The anxiety of the contestants is shared by the crowd in the moments between announcing the winner.

This year’s winner was sophomore Ben Ingegneri, who dazzled the crowd with his choreography of his own tap dance routine, which started out as a duet between himself and a recording of his own shadow, and then progressed to a duet with a friend. His escort, his dog, certainly earned him some cuteness points with the judges.

“It’s been just a few days and it’s amazing how fast nostalgia has set in.” said Ingegneri “Already I feel the brother-like connection towards my fellow contestants as we walk past each other on campus. We worked an obscene amount of hours to put on an amazing show, and we all couldn’t be prouder of each other and of the hard work that we know really paid off. I’m so honored to have been apart of this experience, and so blessed that Mr. Stonehill 2015 will go down in my history book as one of the greatest experiences of my college years. Hill yah!”

Speaking from experience, even being a small part of Mr. Stonehill really opened my eyes to the work that goes into the whole production. The team of students who work behind the scenes really cater to the demand for a hilarious show with quality content, and for that, we thank each and every one of you!

Until next year, men of Stonehill!