Four members of the senior class have been chosen to plan and host this year’s Mr. East competition. The chairpeople for this year are Eloise Kipnis (‘24), Ella Hampton (‘24), Rachel Hornstein (‘24) and Amaris Blyden (‘24). When these chairpeople were selected, their first task was to put out the application for the contestants and then select the candidates from the applications they received. 

The next task they had was to pick the theme and the charity for this year’s event. The theme for the event is Miss America, and each contestant represents different states from all over the United States. With this theme, it represents a silly pageant, but there is lots of room for the contestants to get creative with their state in regards to the music and their acts.

“The theme is just well known to do Miss America, and I think it’s fun that the boys get to make it their own,” said Kipnis.

The chairpeople also decided that the proceeds would go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as it is very close to home, and the senior class has worked a lot with the society.

As chairpeople, they are “responsible for any sort of publicity and promoting the event,” said Blyden, as she mentions the Instagram account they have created to show all of the contestants and hype up the event. They are also in charge of getting sponsorships for the event, which local businesses have been sponsoring already. Lastly, they are in charge of making sure all the contestants have everything they need and are ready to perform their acts.

“Mr. East gives more leadership opportunities to be able to organize something for people to see. It’s not something that you get too often because the most we get to do in terms of producing and organizing a show is One Acts, which we just had,” said Blyden. 

The chairpeople have found that scheduling is a challenge in preparation for this event. “Everyone has AP tests and other things going on that made it really difficult to coordinate,” said Hornstein. They have also found it hard to find times that work for everyone between the boys, the chairpeople and the dance chairs. 

“It was also hard to find any businesses that were willing to donate tuxedos, especially during Prom Season, which we have never encountered before with the date being later,” said Hampton.

“These boys represent different parts of our school and do such different things, and it is so nice to see everyone is excited,” said Kipnis.

The chairpeople reflect on the opportunities Mr. East has given them and see their work and efforts come to life. It is a really great way to end the year and get to know the contestants and people they haven’t talked to; it gives them the opportunity to see their creative ideas come to life. 

“This is the only time it would work. No other grade would be able to enjoy or understand what it is all about,” said the adviser, Mrs. Katie Radbill. 

The chairpeople are most looking forward to the acts and the surprises they have planned, but they are also looking forward to seeing the people attending and hearing people talk about the event.

Mr. East will take place on Friday, May 17 in the Cherry Hill High School East auditorium. 

Jillian Koenig (‘24) and Julia Rosten (‘24) have taken on the role of dance chairs for the Mr. East competition this year. They have been working tirelessly to choreograph the dances, pick the music and teach it to the contestants. The theme this year is Miss America and each contestant represents a different state. Koenig and Rosten have choreographed the spirit week dance together for the past four years, so they have experience teaching these eight contestants.

“The dance chairs create the opening number for the Mr. East contestants. It is a 10-minute long dance, and it is all about the theme. There are four songs pertaining to the theme and then there is a solo portion for the contestants relating to their state,” said Rosten. It is really important that, since it is the opening number, the dance chairs create an opening number that hypes up the audience and gets them excited for the actual show.

The dance chairs have been holding practices after school, and the contestants have been picking up the choreography very quickly. So far, they have choreographed the whole number, and it has been taught; they just need to practice over and over to make sure the contestants actually know the dance. 

“I think it is fun to work with the boys and get them excited for the dance because the other parts of the show are them competing against each other, but this is kind of all of them working together to get the show going,” said Koenig. 

Koenig and Rosten have been working diligently to teach the boys these dances and come up with creative ways to incorporate this year’s theme. They have enjoyed seeing the contestants’ creativity working with the theme and what they want to do with it. The Cherry Hill High School East community looks forward to seeing Koenig and Rosten’s hard work being brought to life on Friday, May 17.

The annual Cherry Hill High School East competition, which this year displays the talents of eight senior boys — Solomon Fox (‘24), Shai Gilmore (‘24), Raine Guidarelli (‘24), Alexander Kang (‘24), Ross Koenig (‘24), Jacob Lomas (‘24), Trevor Preece (‘24) and Noah Yang (‘24) — aim to captivate the audience and judges in hopes of being crowned the title of “Mr. East.” 

As a night with creative and humorous performances, including a group dance, swimwear and formalwear segments, with charity proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Mr. East aspires to provide a cherishable experience for all competitors and attendees. 

“Mr. East is always one of my top highlights of the year. You get to see boys from other grades show their silly, goofy ideas. Now it’s my senior year, and it’s crazy to see people I’ve known for years on stage,” said Lindsay Krieger (‘24). 

Yet, the spirit and projected attendance of this 37th annual competition do not reflect what is supposedly “one of the top highlights of the year.” Unfortunately, Mr. East spirit, and school spirit in general, have declined significantly over recent years. Prior to COVID, when Mr. East resorted to hosting its competition virtually, the highly anticipated event garnered the attendance and attention of the majority of East’s student body. During those times, students, for several weeks, were consumed by the upcoming competition and anxiously anticipated being spectators of the various performances. Of course, excitement over Mr. East still exists, but it is far more tepid compared to its formerly glorified state of enthusiasm. Now, Mr. East spirit is expressed minimally through the morning announcements, the Mr. East 2024 Instagram account and the limited conversation among students.

“As a freshman, I didn’t even know anything about Mr. East until I saw posts on Instagram. To be honest, I still don’t even understand what Mr. East actually is, so what was said [over the intercom] and what I saw [on Instagram] didn’t really excite me about [Mr. East] very much,” said Jake Chan (‘24). 

The decline in Mr. East spirit over the years does not appear to be a coincidence, though. This decline emerges at a time when the East student body has demonstrated lesser enthusiasm about donating canned goods during spirit week, attending East sports games after school or participating in East’s dodgeball tournament. 

The lack of East spirit compared to previous years, particularly pertaining to Mr. East, raises the question: why does the East student body appear to be unenthusiastic about school events? Regardless of the reasons, it’s no secret that progress must be made if East hopes to improve its school spirit. 

“Expanding promotional efforts would definitely … help with getting more people excited about Mr. East. I think there’s most likely a large group of underclassmen who don’t really understand what Mr. East is, so working harder for the school to understand what’s going on may improve [the spirit],” said Kreiger. 

While Mr. East may never resort back to its state before COVID and despite what appears to be minimal enthusiasm over the upcoming event, it’s not too late to capture the interest of the East student body. 

“There are definitely still lots of students excited to have a good time and see their friends perform on stage. I hope the attendance for Mr. East is better than it has been in recent years since the event is … so fun and truly a highlight of your high school experience,” said Kreiger.

For underclassmen, although they may be unfamiliar with the competition and its contestants, excitement still exists.

“I’m psyched about Mr. East and can’t wait to see how everything unfolds … there are lots of exciting [aspects] of the competition that sound very exciting from what I’ve heard from my brother who was in Mr. East a few years ago, and I’m looking forward to it this time around,” said Justin Zhou (‘27).

This year’s Mr. East competition is set to occur on Friday, May 17, and it’s not too late to rekindle East’s former spirit for the competition. After all, it’s events like Mr. East that make our high school experience cherishable. 

“You only get one high school experience with four years to make memories. It’s pretty clear that I’m not going to remember the topic of my English essay, or the grade I got on my math test. It’ll be attending exciting events like Mr. East that give me the best memories and will make my high school experience worthwhile,” said Zhou.